Romans 9 -- Just For ME!

God really allowed Paul to gain incredible insight into His will and His ways as Paul was writing this, for it differs greatly from what Paul had probably always been taught as a Pharisee.  It also tells me so much about God’s love for me.

 

First, he sheds light on the fact that not all of Abraham’s descendants were “God’s true children”, for God chose to bless through Isaac, not Ishmael.  So lineal descent wasn’t important.

 

Then he wrote about God’s choosing of Jacob rather than Esau, the first-born, even while the boys were both still in the womb.  They’d had no opportunities to do or say or think anything that might have swayed God’s decision.  It was simply sovereign choice.

 

God told Moses, “I will show kindness to anyone I want to show kindness, and I will show mercy to anyone I want to show mercy.”  I’m so thankful that He wanted to show mercy and kindness to my boys and me!

 

Paul was shown the passages in Hosea 2:1,23 and Hosea 1:10 to back up God’s sovereign election of those who weren’t Jews, and it’s like hearing a love message from God to me:  “I will say, ‘You are My people’ to those I had called ‘not My people’ … And I will show My love to those I did not love … but later they will be called ‘children of the living God’.”

 

Wow, God!  I was so unlovely as a sinner, and You had absolutely no reason to come after me, but You did anyway, and You showered me with Your grace, Your mercy, and Your love!  What an awesome God You are!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford