Reflections from May 25, 2010

Today Paul speaks in Romans 9:15-18 of God's sovereignty and tells us of Moses when he said to the Israelites, quoting from Exodus 33:19, "For He says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.' So then it is not of him who wills, not of him who runs, but God who shows mercy. For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, 'For this very purpose, I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.' Therefore, He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens."

God does not work on human terms, but on His own, righteous terms. His statement to the Israelites came after they sinned with the golden calf, and they were never less deserving of God's mercy than at that point of direct disobedience regarding the worship of another god. But God did show mercy and still does with us today. No one has a claim on God's mercy, He gives it as He sees fit; but does so with His wrath as well.

This is seen with the Pharaoh, in how He caused him to be part of the history of Egypt as its ruler in order to carry out God's plan. God was not arbitrary in picking Pharaoh and in causing his heart to harden.

Likewise, we have a part in God's plan. We are not here by accident, nor is our actions arbitrary. There are specific things we do that are done to accomplish God's plan, and although He has given us free will, God knows our hearts and our actions, and His plans will be accomplished. The favor comes from being obedient to Him.

In Proverbs 25:27 we read, "It is not good to each much honey; So to seek one's own glory is not glory."

Verse 16 of this chapter tells us that if you eat too much honey you will vomit, and I think the second half of this verse is saying that a man can it's not good for us to "toot our own horn" so to speak. We must not be greedy of that any more than of pleasure, because, for men to search their own glory, to court applause and covet to make themselves popular, is not their glory, but their shame; every one will laugh at them for it; and the glory which is so courted is not glory when it is got, for it is really no true honor to a man.

Blessings to all