Starting from this fishing season, I am getting more serious in fly-fishing. Though I purchased the fly-fishing gear last year but I haven’t had chance to try them out much. One of the reasons is I am still not good at casting a fly rod yet. It has a very different casting concept than spin-casting rods that I have. From high level, the spin-casting rod is throwing “weighted” bait or lure to a desired spot, while the fly rod is throwing out “weighted” fly-line, which carries a lightweight fly in the end.

With the need of a somewhat long line loop in the air, bushes and tree branches all over creek shore, you could imagine the difficulty I, as a novice angler, ran into in getting the fly line out to a location without hitting trees or bushes. No wonder professional angler would wade into the middle of river to avoid those hitting-the-branches frustrations. In addition to the frustration and embarrassment of “flies on the tree instead of on the water”, the biggest frustration I have experienced would be fish rejects the fly I presented – especially when it is a good cast after “several failed attempts”, sigh! 🙁

Generally, “rejection” has its many forms and it can occur in many aspects of our life – career, love, friends and family, church, etc. The feeling of hurt is probably the most difficult part to get rid of. Many of you may have courtship experiences before you get married. However, some of you may have the “lucky” opportunity to taste rejection when he or she does not want to continue. “How do you cope with the rejection” probably is a lesson always has to re-learn from time to time.

In the book of Genesis chapter 4, we see an incident of rejection – God did not look with favor of Cain’s offering. Cain was angry and downcast. God said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.耶和華對該隱說，你為什麼發怒呢，你為什麼變了臉色呢‧你若行得好，豈不蒙悅納，你若行得不好，罪就伏在門前‧它必戀慕你，你卻要制伏它‧。(Genesis 4:6-7)”

From this incident, we could see three aspects of it. Firstly, Cain’s reaction to his rejection seems to be normal. He felt hurts because God rejects his offering. Secondly, God knows one’s heart – in this case, Cain’s heart. Cain didn’t do what is right, according to God. The author of the book Hebrews gave us a hint and commented, “By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. 亞伯因著信獻祭與神，比該隱所獻的更美 (Hebrews 11:4a)”. Apparently, Cain didn’t have the same faith in God as his brother Abel when offered his sacrifice. The last aspect of this incident is the warning of “sin crouching at one’s door” that God indicated to Cain. It tells us what kind of result we may encounter if we didn’t have faith in God – we will be ruled by our flesh and can’t be a pleasing offering to Him. 

Feeling hurt after receiving the rejection can be normal. However, without knowing what is the root cause of the rejection can be a problem and potentially be detrimental if you take it to a wrong direction. God instructed us that believe in Him and have faith in Him is the fundamental solution to rejections. Because we could entrust our life to Him – tells Him about our every frustration and being comforted by His words and promises. My dear friends, do you know how to cope with your rejection? My advice is to come before Him and accept Him as your Lord of life.