Okay, so far I’ve only looked at “hard hearts” in the Old Testament. But look what I’ve found in the New. Here’s how Paul felt about Israel’s hardheartedness:
“With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it. My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them. They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.” (Romans 9:1-5, NLT)
Can’t you just feel his grief and frustration? It’s like when, with your kids, you’ve given them almost everything, and they don’t show any appreciation, but want to go their own way. Yet they’re always wanting more privileges.
So what was going to happen to them?
Read the rest of chapter 9 and then 10 and 11 to find out. However, it raises a lot of questions. Well it has for me. And Paul had some questions too. In chapter 9 we find the following:
- Has God failed to fulfill His promise to the Jews? (v.6-13)
- Was God being unfair? (v.14-1
But God has the right to take pity on whom He wants and to harden the hearts of whom He chooses. - Why then, does God blame them for not listening? Haven’t they done what He made them do? (v.19-29)
- What shall we say about these things? (v.30-33)
And I’ve also discovered that this passage has raised lots of questions in people’s minds for centuries… the debate over God’s sovereignty and man’s free will.
I thought this morning, to put a bit more light on my dilemma, I’d see what someone else had to say. So I went to the bookshelf. The first book I picked up was Haley’s Bible Handbook.
Haley did help me understand it a bit better. He says:
“In this passage Paul is not discussing the predestination of individuals to salvation or condemnaton, but is asserting God’s absolute sovereignty in the choice and management of nations for world functions so as to bring all at last in subjection to Him.”
And then he goes on to say:
“How to reconcile the sovereignty of God and freedom og the human will we do not know. Both doctrines are plainly taught in the Bible. We believe them both. But to explain how both can be true we shall have to leave to others, for the present. Some things we now see in a glass darkly. But some day we shall know, even as we are known.”
So, if Haley couldn’t figure it out and has had to leave it for the “here after”, I think I should do so also.
It is just one of those things we will never really understand while her on earth. So I’m just going to trust God in this one. And besides there are so many other more important things for us to look at.
