A Bitter Pill to Swallow

A Bitter Pill to Swallow

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age. Genesis 37:3 NIV

I mailed a devotional that didn't entirely sit well with one of my friends. Reverend Bob can hardly say two words to me without there being a message or lesson, so I listen intently when he speaks. He said that, "God chooses the ones he loves." I suggested that God loves everybody, but Bob's comment (and the Bible) insisted otherwise. God decides whom He will show mercy (Exodus 33:19). That disturbed me... I was a bit undone because I like the idea of God loving and being merciful to everyone. If God is merciful to everyone, then it seems like He is off the hook for all the ones that refuse to believe. But if God has chosen whom He loves and shows mercy, then how can non believers have a chance with God? It seems like some people really are doomed while others have-it-made. And to me that seems incredibly unjust.

Now let me say that God is incapable of committing any wrong against us, because God has no darkness in Him (1 John 1:5). With that said, I have to accept the truth; God decides that His love belongs to one and is hidden from the other. And that is a bitter pill to swallow. Perhaps the whole idea is unsettling because it sort of removes my power (I didn't actually have any to begin with) and places all of the power in God's hands. I am forced to remember God's complete, unequivocal and irrevocable sovereignty. And for those people that shun and refuse to believe God, they have no excuse. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made. Again, all the signs that point to God are in clear view, so they are without excuse. (Romans 1:20)

I like the Bible verse that says we should not give our pearls to swine (Matthew 7:6). We should choose wisely about where we place the sacred things of God. I think that God decides whom He will love not out of some evil enterprise, but because He is placing pearls into the hands of those that He knows will cherish them. I think God is being wise when He chooses a safe place to put His love, His understanding and His wisdom. And now that I have digested that bitter pill, I am glad for having taken in the Lord’s wisdom, and I wouldn't want it any other way.