Post by Woody Williams on Sept 15, 2024 7:02:19 GMT -5
Text for the Day -- Romans 9:19-26
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You will say to me then, ‘Why then does he still find fault? For who
can resist his will?’ But who indeed are you, a human being, to argue
with God? Will what is moulded say to the one who moulds it, ‘Why
have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay,
to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another
for ordinary use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make
known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath
that are made for destruction; and what if he has done so in order to
make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy, which he
has prepared beforehand for glory— including us whom he has called,
not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? As indeed he says
in Hosea,
‘Those who were not my people I will call “my people”,
and her who was not beloved I will call “beloved”. ’
‘And in the very place where it was said to them, “You are not my
people”,
there they shall be called children of the living God.’
Devotional
----------
On what does the mercy of God depend? Certainly it does not depend on
human criteria. It depends on the will of God. God's will is beyond
our knowing in the sense that we cannot explain or justify why it
appears that God shows mercy to some and not to others. If we do try
to explain it we end up basing it on some form of human goodness, or
a sort of favoritism on God's part toward people like ourselves.
There are some things we should not try to explain. They can only be
left to God.
Prayer
---------
Help me to know and face my limitations of understanding, Lord. Amen
----------
You will say to me then, ‘Why then does he still find fault? For who
can resist his will?’ But who indeed are you, a human being, to argue
with God? Will what is moulded say to the one who moulds it, ‘Why
have you made me like this?’ Has the potter no right over the clay,
to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another
for ordinary use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make
known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath
that are made for destruction; and what if he has done so in order to
make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy, which he
has prepared beforehand for glory— including us whom he has called,
not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? As indeed he says
in Hosea,
‘Those who were not my people I will call “my people”,
and her who was not beloved I will call “beloved”. ’
‘And in the very place where it was said to them, “You are not my
people”,
there they shall be called children of the living God.’
Devotional
----------
On what does the mercy of God depend? Certainly it does not depend on
human criteria. It depends on the will of God. God's will is beyond
our knowing in the sense that we cannot explain or justify why it
appears that God shows mercy to some and not to others. If we do try
to explain it we end up basing it on some form of human goodness, or
a sort of favoritism on God's part toward people like ourselves.
There are some things we should not try to explain. They can only be
left to God.
Prayer
---------
Help me to know and face my limitations of understanding, Lord. Amen