September 10 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

Here we plunge into a letter of Paul. He is talking about the fact that Israel had hardened its heart to the gospel of grace. Although this gospel came to the Israelites in the first place, the majority of them rejected it. Their hearts were hardened. When their promised Deliverer finally came to them, they were unwilling to receive him.

Does this means that the Word of God has failed? No, says Paul in verse 6.

Both obedience to the gospel and disobedience to the gospel come from God. Of course, people are responsible for their own actions. That's always true. But people cannot frustrate the plans of God.

People can never put God in the position of saying: "Now what am I going to do? My plans have failed and my goodness was not accepted." That does not happen because God is not merely a spectator watching the world in which we act; God is also the Ruler over us and all things.

When God said to Pharaoh, "Let my people go," he disobeyed God. Then God used Pharaoh as a means to proclaim God's own glory to the world. The same is true of the hardening of Israel. To God, Israel's disobedience is neither frustrating nor final. God uses it as a means for spreading his own glory throughout the whole world. The gospel goes from Jews to Gentiles, from Jerusalem to Europe.

When God sets out to liberate a nation, and when God sends his Son to liberate the world, neither a stubborn Pharaoh nor a hardened Israel will be able to stop the salvation movement. On the contrary, they will serve it!

"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!... For from him and through him and to him are all things"—even the disobedience of his enemies. "To him be the glory forever! Amen" (Rom. 11:33, 36).

REFLECTIONS

Let Romans 11:33, 36 be your own song of praise to our "unsearch­able" God.

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.