August 20 Romans 11:29-32 Revelatory judgment

Judgment is God calling us back to His grace for all.

                                      Psalter reading Psalm 67:1-7

To the Chief Musician. On stringed instruments.  A Psalm. A Song. God be merciful to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us, Selah 2That Your way may be known on earth, Your salvation among all nations. 3Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. 4Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy! For You shall judge the people righteously, And govern the nations on earth. Selah 5Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. 6Then the earth shall yield her increase; God, our own God, shall bless us. 7God shall bless us, And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.  Psalm 67:1-7 NKJV

29For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, 31even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. 32For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.         Romans 11:29-32 NKJV

Judgment is a word we fear.  Many will slow down when they see a Police car, even if they are not speeding.  God does judge, and He judges righteously.  So often we use terms and don’t know what they mean.  Righteous is often defined using itself.  In the Old English it means rightwise and means walking in the right path.  It also carries the meaning of turning right and also moving in a clockwise manner. 

What part does this play in the gifts and calling of God? 

Judgment is God’s response to our sin.  When we sin we are diverted from God’s will and so our very calling changes and so our gifts much also change.

God used the sin of Israel and His judgment of them to set the stage for the First Coming of Jesus and to expand salvation to the entire world.  By this God completed the calling He had placed upon Israel in spite of them.

So now Jesus lived out God’s calling perfectly for us though we will live that out imperfectly as well.  So as we sin and turn from God’s will and calling God changes and adjusts our calling.  But God will also adjust the calling of others to see His will accomplished.

While this sounds as though God adjusts to our human whims and foibles nothing can be farther from the truth.  God knows all that is and all that will be.  Standing outside of time God has prepared each of us for His mission. 

Knowing what will be, God is able to still allow us the freedom of choice to live in God’s will and calling.  All “adjustments” are already within God’s calling in others.

God is able to work not just in spite of our sins and failings but actually through them so that we can receive mercy and help others discover Him and His mercy for them!

Discover the glory of God in that He not only created everything “very good” but is able to recycle the mess we make of ourselves and creation!