Tuesday 20 June, 2017

19 One of you will say to me, “Then why does God still blame us? Who can oppose what he wants to do?” 20 But you are a mere human being. So who are you to talk back to God? Scripture says, “Can what is made say to the one who made it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” (Isaiah 29:16; 45:9) 21 Isn’t the potter free to make different kinds of pots out of the same lump of clay? Some are for special purposes. Others are for ordinary use. 22 What if God chose to show his great anger? What if he chose to make his power known? But he put up with the people he was angry with. They were made to be destroyed. 23 What if he put up with them to show the riches of his glory to other people? Those other people are the ones he shows his mercy to. He made them to receive his glory. 24 We are those people. He has chosen us. We do not come only from the Jewish race. Many of us are not Jews. 25 God says in Hosea, “I will call those who are not my people ‘my people.’ I will call the one who is not my loved one ‘my loved one.’ ” (Hosea 2:23) 26 He also says, “Once it was said to them, ‘You are not my people.’ In that very place they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ ” (Hosea 1:10) 27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel. He says, “The number of people from Israel may be like the sand by the sea. But only a few of them will be saved. 28 The Lord will carry out his sentence. He will be quick to carry it out on earth, once and for all.” (Isaiah 10:22,23) 29 Earlier Isaiah had said, “The Lord who rules over all left us children and grandchildren. If he hadn’t, we would have become like Sodom. We would have been like Gomorrah.” (Isaiah 1:9)

I love Daily Digest. I love reading it and I love writing for it but some passages are harder to understand than others and this is one those passages. I have a real problem with Romans 9:19-23 because it can lead to ‘determinism’. In this instance determinism means God predetermines all outcomes and so what you do will not affect another person’s salvation.

So what do I know?

• I know this passage is part of a much larger discourse by Paul and is part of a very special case regarding the Jews standing with God.
• I know God wants all people to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4)
• I know there is great joy in heaven when one person turns to God (Luke15:7)
• and I know whatever I do God loved me first (1 John 4:19)

This ‘good news’ is truly worth sharing with others.

Thank you, God, that you first loved us and that we will take some time today to reflect on these thoughts. Amen!

Written by David Newton