Learning to not understand

Scripture Read: Romans 9:6-13 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; 7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “through Isaac your descendants will be named.” 8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. 9 For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son.” 10 And not only this, but there was Rebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac; 11 for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, 12 it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

Application: Father – These kinds of passages are so difficult to understand, yet we need to ask ourselves - is part of the struggle that we feel due to the fact that we do not like the conclusion this kind of scripture leads us to? We asked in the verses before how could Paul be willing to go to hell for his brethren, while in this passage it appears that You choose and there is no free will. Nothing said about foreknowledge – only Your choice. Many of us look at Paul’s love and wonder if we are even saved – we don’t possess a love like that. Then we look at Your sovereign choice and wonder if we just don’t get any of it. We must realize that we will never have all of it together because Salvation is of You – the Infinite One – and we are so finite. The sad part to me is that we take Rom 9:1-13 and spend most of our time arguing over a topic that we will never fully comprehend, yet we miss some very important truth that can help us in our walk with You right now Father. If Paul can have the selfless love produced in him, so can we. Also, in the end – even though we do not understand how it all works – all of this is a combination of Your Sovereignty and our Free Will. You designed it that way. So we should celebrate that and give our attention to our part – we will be good stewards of the free will You have entrusted to us and make choices that we will not regret – we will leave the Sovereignty part to You!