Lament for My People
Opening Prayer
Lord, give me a heart of sorrow for a lost and dying world.
Read Romans 9:1–18
I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. 5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
God’s Sovereign Choice
6 It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” 8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. 9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”
10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac. 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! 15 For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17 For 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.” 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
“Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people” (Jer. 9:1).
The change in tone between chapters 8 and 9 is striking. Paul moves from our total security within the love of God, to anguish and lament over Israel. There is profound
personal trauma and also a theological crisis. Each is rooted in the same reality. Although there were many Jewish believers in Jerusalem and across the Roman Empire, Jews as a whole had not recognized Jesus as the Messiah.
The theological crisis is about the fulfillment of Scripture. Had the word of God “failed” (6)? In the previous chapters Paul has outlined the story from Adam to Abraham to Moses to Christ. This lineage constituted his people’s very heritage. If anyone were to inherit as God’s family, it was they. The scriptural promises were made to and through them. Why could they not see something so obvious? In chapters 9–11 Paul will draw on the Scriptures as he engages this question. A third of all his quotations from the Old Testament are found here. Racial identity is no guarantee of membership in the kingdom of God. God is sovereign, but how had that sovereignty worked out for the salvation of the world?
Today’s focus is on the personal trauma. The heart of this Jewish evangelist is revealed. Like Moses before him (Exod. 32:32), he would rather be lost if the result could be that they would be found. The love of God grasped so clearly in chapter 8 leads directly to the anguish of chapter 9. How much does it matter to us that our family, friends, neighbors and fellow countrymen do not know Christ? What depths of intercession, what groaning on their behalf does their plight require? Authentic evangelism is rooted in a deep grasp of the love of God in Christ and in a resulting love for those for whom Christ died. It is costly, a part of suffering with Christ.
Apply
Will I keep my heart soft, so that I can share in prayer the anguish of God for those who
are far from him?
Closing prayer
God of Mercy and Grace, keep me ever-mindful of the privileged position Israel holds in Your eyes, and show me how to pray for the Jew and for the Gentile.
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