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 ²⁹ For God’s gifts and his call can never be withdrawn.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 11:28-36

Dear God, this is one of those times when I’m not sure about Paul’s conclusions. I do, wholeheartedly, agree with verse 33, which I suppose is why I question verses 28-32. If your ways are so unknowable, how can Paul explain them right before that? I’m probably praying a lot of heresy here, but when I look back over the recorded history in the Bible and then think about the 1,900 to 2,000 years since then, I tend to think of everything in human history leading to Jesus. I see Abraham’s call being part of the butterfly effect that leads to Jesus being born to Mary. I mean, for you to have blessed Jacob…well, there has to be more to your choice than his nobility or righteousness. All of it needed to lead to David which led to Jesus. You put your thumb on the scale and led history right where you needed it to go. So yes, there were times when you really favored Abraham’s descendants, and because you are the true God the descendents of both Isaac and Ishmael have carried your name forward, but it feels like everything was about making sure Jesus entered the world the way he did 2,000 years ago.

How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways!

I can’t pretend to know or understand any of this. I would certainly never teach it to a Sunday school class or in a Bible study because I’m probably wrong. So I come here this morning to accept the fact that I am small, ignorant, and foolish, and I have a God who is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. I worship you. I do the best that I can in any given moment. I offer my life to you.

Father, there is so much pain in the world. I’m thinking about several people in my mind right now who I know are in a lot of pain. Bless and encourage them. Show them your heart for them. Give them freedom through confession, revealing secrets that are binding them up, and redemptiive repentance. My heart hurts for them. Give them the serenity to accept the things they cannot change, the courage to change the things they can, and the wisdom to know the difference. And beyond that, give them the ability to repent before you, receive that grace, and then, in gratitude, extend grace and mercy to others. Throw off the self-pity and other ties that bind them, and help them to peacefully and joyously bask in your presence.

I pray this in Jesus and with your Holy Spirit,

Amen