Monday July 26, 2021

Lord, help me to pause, help me to focus, help me to receive your word in a way that makes an impact on my day. Amen.

Romans 9:19-29

One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?

What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory— even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? As he says in Hosea:

“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;

and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”

and,

“In the very place where it was said to them,

‘You are not my people,’

there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,

only the remnant will be saved.

For the Lord will carry out

his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”

It is just as Isaiah said previously:

“Unless the Lord Almighty

had left us descendants,

we would have become like Sodom,

we would have been like Gomorrah.”

I love the language in verse 20 “But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?” Because I have a 7 year old, being on the receiving end of “talking back” is just a way of life for my husband and I right now. Which is why this verse and this passage is so powerful. How often do we talk back to God? How often do we say “Why did you make me like this”? I know that the intent is not for us to talk back to God, but when we question God’s creation, we question our creator.

Life would be easy if we had all the answers or were previewed to the “why” of God. Paul points out in these passages that we serve a patient God who has shown us mercy by how he treats his creation. While we want to control so much of our life, we are reminded in these passages that we are dependent on our Creator. Everything we have, everything we are comes from God.

How have you “talked back to God” recently”?

How can you be more dependent on your Creator today?

Lord, these are your words. This is our story. Help me live in a way that honors you today and everyday. Amen.