Scripture Daily

Context No. 3448 of 4322 · Romans

Context · Reflection

Romans 11:7-12: in context

7What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he didn’t obtain, but the chosen ones obtained it, and the rest were hardened. 8According as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.” 9David says, “Let their table be made a snare, a trap, a stumbling block, and a retribution to them. 10Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see. Always keep their backs bent.” 11I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? May it never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. 12Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!

Paul wrestles with the mystery of Israel's partial hardening. Most of Israel did not obtain what they sought, yet Paul refuses to read this as the end of the story: did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles.

God brought good even out of Israel's failure, using it to open the door of the gospel to the whole world. And Paul looks ahead with hope: if their stumbling meant riches for the world, how much more will their full inclusion bring. Even human failure and hardening God is able to weave into a larger purpose of mercy that will, in the end, embrace more than we can now see. Nothing, not even his own people's stumbling, falls outside God's redemptive plan. He can bring blessing out of failure and hold open a future of grace beyond present rejection, so that where sin abounded, mercy abounds all the more.

Do I trust that God can weave even failure and rejection into his larger purpose of mercy, holding open a future of grace beyond what I can now see?

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