Grateful for God’s choice

Romans 9:19-29

¹⁹ Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?”

²⁰ No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” ²¹ When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? ²² In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. ²³ He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory. ²⁴ And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.

²⁵ Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea,
“Those who were not my people,
I will now call my people.
And I will love those
whom I did not love before.”

²⁶ And,
“Then, at the place where they were told,
‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called
‘children of the living God.’ ”

²⁷ And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out,
“Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore,
only a remnant will be saved.
²⁸ For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth
quickly and with finality.”

²⁹ And Isaiah said the same thing in another place:
“If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
had not spared a few of our children,
we would have been wiped out like Sodom,
destroyed like Gomorrah.”

We have no right to protest at what God does. We are the creation but he is the creator. He is sovereign. This passage seems unfair to us, but we need to remember that

1. God knows our hearts, and “hardening” them may mean giving us over to the hardening which some have already adopted.
2. We know from elsewhere in scripture that God’s will is that all men should be saved.  v 22 – 24 show that God does not choose arbitrarily but has great patience and mercy although we deserve his wrath.

Remember that Romans is written to both Jewish and Gentile believers. Here Paul outlines that Gentiles are now accepted and shows from the OT that it had always been God’s plan. He also shows that God is preserving a remnant of “True Israel” for himself.

I think our response to this passage should be profound gratefulness that God has chosen US to be given eternal life. It should also spur us on to pray for others, so that they are included too. Never let go of gratitude for being part of the Kingdom.

Written by Megan Cornell