²⁵ I want you to understand this mystery, dear brothers and sisters, so that you will not feel proud about yourselves. Some of the people of Israel have hard hearts, but this will last only until the full number of Gentiles comes to Christ. ²⁶ And so all Israel will be saved. As the Scriptures say,

“The one who rescues will come from Jerusalem,
    and he will turn Israel away from ungodliness.
²⁷ And this is my covenant with them,
    that I will take away their sins.”

²⁸ Many of the people of Israel are now enemies of the Good News, and this benefits you Gentiles. Yet they are still the people he loves because he chose their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ²⁹ For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn. ³⁰ Once, you Gentiles were rebels against God, but when the people of Israel rebelled against him, God was merciful to you instead. ³¹ Now they are the rebels, and God’s mercy has come to you so that they, too, will share in God’s mercy. ³² For God has imprisoned everyone in disobedience so he could have mercy on everyone.

³³ Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!

³⁴ For who can know the Lord’s thoughts?
    Who knows enough to give him advice?
³⁵ And who has given him so much
    that he needs to pay it back?

³⁶ For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.

Romans 11:25-36

Dear God, as I was reading this passage, I found myself asking if Paul could be wrong about any of this. For instance, did you really choose the Jewish people over the other Gentiles, or were the Jewish people, through Abraham and ultimately, genealogically, leading to Jesus, and thereby you reached out to the world and blessed the Gentiles (like me) through the Israelites? so I was wondering that about Paul, and then I got to verses 33-35 and saw that even Paul had a notion that he didn’t completely understand all of your plan. To him, sitting there 2,000 years ago, there was still this great paradigm that the Israelites were your people and the rest of us were just lucky to have your love and interest. I think what Jesus started to shift was the idea that you were really interested in all of us all along. That’s why you sent Jonah to the Ninevites. That’s why you healed Naman in 2 Kings 5.

I will confess that I don’t understand your ways at all, and I could be totally wrong about all of this. It’s possible that you do love the Jewish people more than the rest of us. And if you do, that is fine. To quote the Gentile woman who went to Jesus so he would heal her daughter in Matthew 15:27, “That’s true, Lord, but even dogs are allowed to eat the scraps that fall beneath their masters’ table.” So I am very happy to be a dog sitting below the table, near you.

Father, help me today. I have fears. I have concerns. I have insecurities. But I really need to live for you. I need to love for you. I need to do this regardless of what it costs me. I need to be a good steward of what you’ve given me. I need to be humble and serve. I need to decrease so that you can increase. And I need to understand that your ways are not my ways, you are greater than I am, and I am just a fool. But I am a fool who at least knows he is foolish. Reveal just a little more of my foolishness to me today.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen