Romans Chapter 9 cont'd
We're dealing with the all-knowing, all-powerful, and infinite Creator of all things here! How could we, or why should we, expect to fully comprehend his infinite mysteries with our finite minds? Doesn't he have the right to withhold some secrets from us to keep us humble and worshipful? A world full of morally fallen people is bad enough, what if we all possessed omniscience too?! As part of his "job description" as God, can't he do with mankind what he thinks best for the universe?
But here are just a couple of little thoughts that help put the matter in perspective! Just maybe God's patience with rebellious and sinful humans who provoke him to anger needs to be noted, since he has always had the justifiable reasons and power to totally wipe us out at any time. Just maybe God's rich and undeserved mercy and his wisdom in choosing some people, from among both Jews and Gentiles, to receive his salvation needs to be gratefully acknowledged, rather than our always throwing up to him our impotent philosophical arguments about why he shouldn’t be the way he is or do the things he does.
Comments:
It is good for our souls to contemplate and ponder (and it is also good for our minds to be blown away!) the bigness and greatness of God. It is good for us to wrestle and struggle with the concept of God's choice being the only sure foundation for the salvation of humanity...and for our salvation. As I look back on my God-story...it is very plain to me that he took the initiative toward me and helped me to open my heart to Jesus Christ. I am convinced that I chose him, because he first chose me. How about you? No one comes to him without the divine drawing influence of the Holy Spirit upon our broken hearts. This truth of God's gospel of grace is truly a humbling one for us to receive. But our pride needs to be broken anyway...right? It is good and right that we cannot take credit for saving ourselves, though we are involved interactively with the Trinity in the process. Because we are, we sometimes are tempted to think that we had more to do with the spiritual initiation of it all than we actually did.
However, if we attempt to intellectually over-analyze the philosophical implications surrounding God's sovereignty, there is a terrible irony that can kick into gear. We can move from awe, humility, wonder and childlike receptivity to a place of spiritual paralysis. We imagine that we cannot take any initiative (that will matter) toward God by our choices. We can very easily gravitate toward spiritual passivity and wrongly sacrifice the dignity of the gift of will and choice that our Father has given us. When spiritual life is boiled down to the practical level (which needs to be done at the proper times), we must come around to highlight, to ourselves and others, the vital importance of choosing Christ and choosing to walk in the Spirit and choosing to say "no" to the dominion of our lower passions and choosing to love God and others and...etc.
It is in the choosing of the right...the choosing of the light...that we will be most often and passionately convinced that the Spirit of God has been invisibly, subtly and humbly helping us on the front end of such choices that led us (and continues to lead us) out of darkness. This is the clear implication of what Jesus said to Nicodemus at the end of their famous interchange in John 3:21..."But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly (i.e. usually afterward) that what he has done has been done through God."
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