Romans 9: 18-29
18So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
19You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who resists His will?”
20On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it?
21Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?
22What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
23And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory,
24even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.
25As He says also in Hosea,
“I WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, ‘MY PEOPLE,’
AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED, ‘BELOVED.'”
26″AND IT SHALL BE THAT IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, ‘YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,’
THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF THE LIVING GOD.”
27Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “THOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL BE LIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA, IT IS THE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED;
28FOR THE LORD WILL EXECUTE HIS WORD ON THE EARTH, THOROUGHLY AND QUICKLY.”
29And just as Isaiah foretold,
“UNLESS THE LORD OF SABAOTH HAD LEFT TO US A POSTERITY,
WE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WOULD HAVE RESEMBLED GOMORRAH.”
Paul continues his explanation of God’s sovereignty. He is the one true God who has power over ALL. Not some, not most, ALL things. He has the power to grant us free will, He has the power to make us fall to our knees. Why does He allow some things to happen? The answer is in today’s highlighted text.
It’s all for HIS glory. Not ours, but His. Sometimes we don’t understand it, but that’s ok. It’s not our place to understand, it’s our place to love. Period. I discussed this recently http://tinyurl.com/sovereignbelief
Here, Paul references some old testament text to explain that God claims everyone to be his. Not just the believers, not just the Jews, but ALL. Remember, He created everything, so why wouldn’t we be His?
I feel this passage is a key understanding about how we look at our lives. Occasionally I hear people begrudging God for allowing something to happen, for not allowing something to happen, for a particular person, etc. etc. Here it tells us it is all for a reason and God’s purpose. So, if we have faith in God’s will and purpose, what do we have to complain about?
Is there something you hold against God? Is it not His right to make it that way?
