“MY PEOPLE!”

 “MY PEOPLE!”

Romans 9:19-33                                 (ESV)

“19 You will say to me then, "Why does HE still find fault? For who can resist HIS will?"

20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to GOD? Will what is molded say to its MOLDER, "Why have YOU made me like this?"

21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

22 What if GOD, desiring to show HIS wrath and to make known HIS power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,

23 in order to make known the riches of HIS glory for vessels of mercy, which HE has prepared beforehand for glory-

24 even us whom HE has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles?

25 As indeed HE says in Hosea, "Those who were not “MY PEOPLE” I will call 'MY PEOPLE,' and her who was not beloved I will call 'beloved.'" 

26 "And in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not MY people,' there they will be called 'sons of the living GOD.'" 

27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, ONLY A REMNANT of them WILL BE SAVED,

28 for the LORD will carry out HIS sentence upon the earth fully and WITHOUT DELAY."

29 And as Isaiah predicted, "If the LORD OF hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah." 

30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith;

31 BUT THAT ISRAEL who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness DID NOT SUCCEED in reaching that law.

32 Why? Because THEY DID NOT PURSUE IT BY FAITH, BUT as if it were BASED ON WORKS. They have stumbled over THE STUMBLING STONE,

33 as it is written, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in HIM will not be put to shame."”

My most recent devotional was only two verses long.  This one is a “tad” more lengthy!  SEEing precisely what the Apostle Paul was attempting to make known to the church in Rome, and allowing it to strengthen and mature us, demanded that at least these verses were studied.  According to one commentary, “Romans 9 begins with Paul describing his anguish for his people Israel in their rejection of CHRIST. After describing all the privileges GOD has given to the Jewish people as a nation, Paul insists that GOD will keep those promises. However, not every person born to Israel belongs to Israel, he writes. GOD RESERVES THE RIGHT TO SHOW MERCY TO SOME AND NOT OTHERS, as Paul demonstrates from Scripture. GOD is like a potter WHO CREATES “some vessels for destruction and others for glory”. GOD has called out HIS people FROM BOTH the Gentiles and the Jews to FAITH in CHRIST, the stumbling stone.”

Abraham, the father of our FAITH (Romans 4:16-17), was called out of a life of worshipping false gods from “Ur of the Chaldees” (Genesis 11:31), which mainly worshipped the “moon god”.  GOD “called him out” of that practice and PROMISED him to make him a father of a “great nation” (Genesis 12:2).  Abraham (then known as Abram) was 75 years old at the time!  Sarai, his wife, was barren, so how could GOD say that HE was going to make Abram a “great nation” when he had NO OFFSPRING?  

When GOD CHOOSES someone to be “MY PEOPLE”, HE WILL DELIVER WHAT HE PROMISES, WITHOUT DELAY!  What we have to accept is that HIS ways are NOT our ways and HIS TIMING doesn’t always equate to our timeline!  In Genesis 12:5, GOD told Abram as he passed through Canaan “To your offspring I WILL GIVE this land”, which was currently occupied by Canaanites.  They had the land, but GOD CREATED it and the earth and everything in it (Acts 17:24) PROMISED Abraham that HE would GIVE IT to his offspring!  

Getting to the meat if the matter, we MUST SEE that “MY PEOPLE” are people NOT physical bloodline from Abraham, we are those whose FAITH is in the same GOD as Abraham!  Exhibiting that FAITH is walking where GOD leads you, even if it is through the dark wilderness!  HIS Plan may lead you into prison, and it may lead you into poverty, but if it does, GOD will be with “MY PEOPLE” and HIS PEACE is the substance that will carry you through, not the wealth and luxuries of “this world”!