Romans 9:1-18

Be Still: Lord, I take time to still myself in your presence. Speak to me as I spend time in your Word. Amen

Read: Romans 9:1-18 

'For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. “It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.' (v15-16) 

Encounter: Romans 9 tackles one of the toughest topics to get our heads around –God’s sovereignty. Sovereignty is described as supreme power and authority.  In this verse we see Paul quoting some of the words that God spoke to Moses in Exodus 33:19. Like Paul, Moses was praying to God that the people would recognise God as Lord and the reply is – 'I will have mercy on those I have mercy.' Basically, 'I am God, and I have supreme authority.'

In our world, we have seen countless examples of power abused and the thought of someone having supreme power is almost incomprehensible and frankly terrifying. However, we can be absolutely assured that God is not like any earthly ruler. He is pure goodness and therefore we can trust him! Trust is so important in our walk with God; when we don’t trust, we are limiting God to fit into a box of our human making and expectations. 

One way we can grow in our trust of God, is to spend more time with him. 

Time spent with him leads to closeness which leads to trust because we discover for ourselves how good he is.

Apply: Are there any situations that you are struggling to make sense of?  Are there any areas you are struggling to surrender and entrust to God? 

Spend time answering these questions and surrender each of these areas to God. 

Devote: Lord, thank you that you are sovereign over my life. Thank you that even when we don’t understand, we can put our complete trust in you. Help us to surrender our all to you.