What I (Don’t) Know
“Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.”
Today’s Text: Romans 9:14-24 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
Personally, this is one of the most difficult verses for me in Scripture. I consider myself to be “modified Reformed.” I do not believe in the idea of “limited atonement”—the idea that Jesus died only for those who are saved. I believe that Jesus died for all and that each person is given a choice of whether to believe or not.
But I also acknowledge that I cannot fully comprehend the ways of God. What I DO believe is that God is sovereign. God is the only one who is in control. However, I do not believe that God necessarily exercises that control in terms of who is going to be saved and who is not going to be saved. Of course, God does know who will be saved and who will not.
I believe in predestination, too. But I understand predestination to mean that God has pre-established HOW people will be saved, rather than who will be saved.
And that is why this verse is difficult for me. And yet, I must accept the truth of it. But in the context of the full counsel of Scripture, what is it really saying? Maybe this verse is not talking about a person’s salvation, per se. Maybe it is pointing out that God exercises His absolute control over the circumstances of our lives in order to bring about salvation history—that is, to guide human history to its ultimate redemption and judgment in Christ Jesus.
Even in the case of the exodus of Israel out of Egypt (the context of this verse), God had mercy on the people of Israel, and yet every single adult died in the wilderness, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb. Did God exercise mercy on all those He saved just to harden their hearts so that they would die in the wilderness? Of course, that is exactly what some people would say.
But as long as I think biblically about the question of God’s sovereignty and predestination, I can never be truly “right,” nor can I ever be truly “wrong.” And that is because, I do not exist both outside and inside of space and time like God does.
God has extended mercy to us all by sending His Son to suffer His wrath on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. Because God so loved the world and wants all people to be saved (John 3:16; 1 Timothy 2:4).
I am the beneficiary of God’s mercy. Through faith, we all are.
What matters is not what I believe about reformed theology or predestination. What matters is that I belong to Jesus Christ for the sake of the glory of God.
Father, You are the Creator of heaven and earth and all living things. You are the Giver of life. You have knit me in my mother’s womb. I don’t know her, but You know her. You are the Author of my salvation, the Forgiver of my sins, and the Redeemer of my soul. My understanding, my motivations, my thinking and feeling, will always fall short. But You are my salvation, and You alone. Use me for Your glory and fill my heart with joy as Your servant. In Jesus’s name. Amen.
