"14What then shall we say? is God unjust? Not at all! 15For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.' 16It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. 17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: 'I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.' 18Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden."
That's a hard pill to swallow. I think half the congregation had a big, fat, ugly grimace on their face right about this point. But then Pastor Brian had us turn to Matthew 20:13-15 - a parable Jesus tells where workers are all paid the same amount of money even though they did not work the same number of hours. The men that got up at 6am and worked all day got the same pay as the lazy men that slept in and didn't start working till 5pm. When the early risers complained the employer answered,
"13Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 14Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?"
Pastor Brian elaborated that our salvation is a gift from God. A gift is not something that we deserve nor is it something that anyone is obligated to give. We've developed this sort of entitlement mentality, turning the gift of salvation into a business transaction. What Jesus is saying is that we are lucky to receive God's grace at all. If he chooses not to give it to the Pharaoh so that he may further his Kingdom, then that is his freedom to do so. It is his freedom that guards his grace.
Now, I say all this because this really got me thinking about the upcoming term paper. I had unofficially decided to write my paper on The Slave - for obvious links to the wonderful book of Job. But that just seemed kind of boring to me... It's such a blatantly obvious connection. But one thing that I really wondered about while reading The Slave, was how Jacob found justification in the punishment he seemed to be getting from God when he was such a faithful follower. Up until his romp in the woods with Wanda, he was incredibly loyal to God - even afterwards he still maintained an astounding faith in the Lord. It honestly made me feel ashamed. I sin, then feel guilty, then sin again because of the original sin I committed. It's a vicious cycle that pulls me farther and farther away from God. But yet I still see his grace in my life every day. The fact that I'm free, that I'm studying here at MSU, that I have friends to hang out with over the weekend and a family to return to for Thanksgiving and Christmas are all signs of his grace. I wonder why he chose to give me this gift. And why he put Jacob through such difficult trials. I don't think I'll ever be able to understand an incomprehensible God, but I just might try...
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