Sermon Notes
Date: 02/04/2024
Preacher: Monty Simao, pastor
Series: Romans
Key Text: Romans 9:14-18
Description:
SBC Host: God extends mercy to some but hardens the hearts of others.
Avg Guy: That doesn’t seem fair!
Today on Scandia Bible Church Podcast, Pastor Monty Simao continues with our study in the book of Romans in which the Apostle Paul confronts us with a question of God’s justice… His righteousness.
It’s a passage of mystery, of divine choice and the human heart, that has puzzled and inspired believers for centuries… for it pushes us to the edge of where our understanding meets God’s unsearchable judgements and unfathomable ways.
And though we may not completely understand, there’s no denying the magnitude of His sovereignty and the depth of His mercy.
For when we acknowledge God’s absolute freedom — though it may challenge — we begin to find comfort as we see our place in His redemptive plan.
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Discussion Guide:
Use of this guide is designed for both individual reflection, as well as group discussions like family worship.
My prayer is that it will allow you to dwell longer, and meditate more, upon God’s holy Word and will be fodder for sanctifying conversations.
— M.S.
Transcript:
01:37
Turn with me to Romans chapter 9.
01:50
We’ve been making our way through Paul’s argument in Romans 9, supporting his earlier statement in verse 6, that the Word of God has not failed. Even though many of his countrymen, the Jews of the flesh, have abandoned God and rejected Christ and are hence under God’s wrath.
02:18
And Paul’s been explaining that not all Israel is Israel’s, not all of Israel the nation is Israel, the true Israel by faith. Not all the descendants of Abraham are counted as descendants, but only those who are children of promise. And those would be those who look.
02:42
to Christ. That’s what it is to be a child of promise. That’s what it is to be a child of God, to be part of true Israel, to look to Christ alone for salvation. Last week we looked at Paul’s example, that of Isaac’s two sons, his twin boys, Jacob and Esau, and that God chose Jacob, the younger twin, and he rejected Esau.
03:11
And this was not done because of anything in Jacob or in Esau. We were really we could say that he he wasn’t choosing or rejecting based on anything in all of creation. But it was his sovereign choice without being influenced by anything outside of himself. And Paul, when he says this, he anticipates a
03:40
an objection and that objection is what we’re going to be focusing on this morning and our passage is Romans 9 verses 14 through 18. I’m going to read back up one paragraph and read from verse six Romans 9 beginning in verse six but it is not as though the word of God has failed for they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel
04:10
nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but through Isaac your descendants will be named. That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants. For this is the word of promise, at this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but there was Rebecca also when she had conceived.
04:39
twins by one man, our father Isaac. For though the twins were not yet born, and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to his choice would stand, not because of works, but because of him who calls. It was said to her, the older will serve the younger, just as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. What shall we say then?
05:07
There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be. For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. So then it does not depend on the man who wills, or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose, I raised you up to demonstrate my power in you.
05:35
and that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. So then he has mercy on whom he desires and he hardens whom he desires. Blessed Lord who caused all holy scripture to be written for our learning, grant us to hear and to read and to mark and to learn and to inwardly digest what we read this morning.
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we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope, the everlasting life which you’ve given us in our Savior Jesus Christ, amen.
06:16
The objection that Paul is dealing with, it is an objection that’s been raised many, many times and in many different ways. We raise this objection against our fellow man all the time. It’s to suggest that there is injustice. It’s to say that something is not fair. This is an attack against someone’s righteousness. And…
06:44
That’s probably the first way that we learn to use that objection. You can think of a child or how many times children may have at least felt this way, if not actually said it, but something goes on in their home or they feel like one sibling is being treated differently than another and they say, well, that’s not fair. You give one child two cookies and one cookie. Well, that’s not fair. And Paul’s example, it foresees this objection.
07:14
In a deeper state, we’re not dealing with something small, we’re dealing with eternal life. And he foresees this objection dealing with Jacob and Esau. Jacob was chosen, Esau was not chosen. Jacob was chosen like Isaac was chosen. And Esau was not chosen just as Ishmael was not chosen. And so the argument is, how is that fair? How is it fair that God would choose
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one son over another before they were even born. Because Paul says, for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, you know, shouldn’t God at least give them a chance to decide on their own? Shouldn’t God allow them to continue in an even state without favoring
08:11
one over the other to see just what develops. Paul doesn’t even entertain this charge. Even in the way he brings it up he says there is no injustice with God is there? His answer me gnoito may it never be God forbid. There’s no more emphatic way that Paul could respond to this. God forbid as it says in other translations.
08:41
Because to suggest unfairness with God is blasphemy. You see, the problem is our starting position. The starting position is wrong. When we ask this, we assume that mankind is in a neutral state. We assume that our reasoning, our affections, our will is open to convincing.
09:09
And that’s why when many Christians, if you think of something like apologetics, when many Christians think of apologetics or defending the faith, they think of, I just need to learn how to argue against every single position that arises. I need to know how to talk to Mormons, I need to know how to talk to Jehovah Witnesses, I need to know how to talk to atheists, I need to know all the things that they believe, and then the logical arguments to respond to everything they believe, because I need to convince them.
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And I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have arguments or anything like that. But what I am saying is, we need to be careful that we’re not assuming that what the world needs is just more information or better arguments. Or to think that they just need to see the logic. And if they see the logic, then they will follow Jesus. When in reality, what the world needs is the almighty power of God.
10:08
to cause someone who is dead in sin to live in Jesus Christ. Isn’t that why Paul could say in Romans 1-16, For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. We need to understand that those who are dead in sin will remain dead in sin, and they will continue in their open rebellion
10:37
and hostility against God. Even if they are convinced of the truth, they will not submit to the truth they are convinced of. And that’s why you could probably think of those in your own life who maybe they grew up in church or something and they believe that there is God. They believe Jesus Christ is God. They even believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead. And that’s again what all demons believe.
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but they do not believe to look to Jesus to save them. They believe, they say, I know all of this is true. Maybe they say, but I don’t wanna live my life like that. I don’t wanna live in submission to God. I don’t wanna repent of my sins. The gospel to them is foolishness. They believe intellectually, but they don’t believe experientially.
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We find this objection in the opening chapters of Genesis, when the Lord had regard for Abel’s sacrifice and offering, but not for Cain’s offering. It says in Genesis 4 that Cain was angry and God says, so Cain was, the text says, so Cain was very angry at the situation. Now, who is he angry at? He’s angry at God.
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And God instructs him and God says, Why are you angry and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at your door and its desire is for you but you must rule over it. In other words, God told Cain what he must do and Cain refused. Cain’s heart is not desirous of obeying because
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can do… he hates God. This is what he’s doing, he’s going through the ritual, but he’s not having… he doesn’t place faith in God. God tells him what he must do. And because Cain can do nothing against God, whom he hates, what does he do? He kills his brother Abel. I will hurt God by killing he whom he loves. Cain attempts to hurt God in that way. But it’s not only unbelievers.
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that bring this charge against God, even those whom the Lord knows. For instance, Abraham questions God’s fairness. In Genesis 18, God says to Abraham, because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. And Abraham says to the Lord, will you indeed sweep away the righteous along with the wicked?
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Eventually Abraham says, far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked. Far be it from you. Listen, shall not the judge of all the earth do what is just?
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This charge against God, it’s the adult version of, that’s not fair.
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Which is, will you not be just? Will you not be righteous? Abraham rightly makes the assumption, his assumption is that God is the judge of all and that God must be right. He must be just and righteous in his judgment. And so in Romans 9, Paul, he emphatically agrees with Abraham’s assumption. God is the judge of all. God always judges rightly.
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The accusation here in Romans 9 stems from a faulty assumption. Not about God, a faulty assumption about man. Just as Abraham assumed that there must be at least 10 righteous in Sodom and was wrong. The assumption here is that God is choosing one to believe over the other and therefore
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is doing injustice to the one he has not chosen. In other words, God chooses Jacob but did injustice to Esau by not choosing Esau. And if we’re paying attention to the first three chapters of Romans, we’ll see where the fault in judgment lies. And we’ll get there in a moment. But let’s look at how Paul builds this argument.
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our verses and how they begin in our passage verse 14 through 18 verse 14 of course brings up the question what shall we say then verse 15 begins with for or because verse 16 begins so then you can think of that as therefore verse 17 we find another for and then verse
16:00
because therefore, let’s look at that again and I’ll read it that way. What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be. Because he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. Therefore, it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. Because the scripture says to Pharaoh, for this very purpose I raised you up.
16:29
to demonstrate my power in you, in that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. Therefore, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.” Now, why this structure? What does this relate to? Well, you can think of each of these because and therefores as being a pair, and both pairs relate to what Paul has just said. The first, because and therefore, is about God’s mercy. The second pair,
16:58
because and therefore is about God’s judgment or his justice. The first pair relates to Jacob and Isaac, the second pair to Esau and Ishmael. Paul begins by taking us to Exodus 33, 19. That’s what he quotes there in verse 15. And let me read that together, 14 and 15 together. Listen carefully.
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There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be. Because God says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. Now, what’s going on here? It doesn’t seem to follow, right? It almost seems like a non-sequitur kind of thing. The answer doesn’t logically follow the question, or so it at least seems.
17:57
But look back at verse 11 and 12, verses 11 and 12. For though the twins were not yet born, it had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose, according to his choice, would stand, not because of works, but because of him who calls, it was said to her, the older will serve the younger. And when you read verse 11, assuming you couldn’t see the text, and we were just kind of…
18:25
playing a fill in the blank game. And you had to use what you knew of Paul’s writings of Christianity in general to kind of guess what Paul was about to say. You didn’t know where I was quoting from. I just said a statement and you had to fill in the blank. And I said, okay, fill in the blank. Not because it works, but because of most people would say faith.
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or something like that. Because that’s usually what’s contrasted in Paul’s writings, works, and faith. And if it said faith, there actually would be no objection. No objection would be raised. Esau is rejected simply because he did not believe. He did not have faith in God. Jacob is accepted because Jacob trusts God. Nobody has a problem with that.
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But Paul doesn’t do that, does he? He continues his statement, not because of works, but because of him who calls. Or to rephrase it to make it even more pointed, not because of works, but because of God. And God decides who to call.
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And here we are a few verses later. Paul confirms the same thing by giving us the Old Testament example in Exodus 33. So put a marker in Romans. Let’s turn there to Exodus 33.
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And I want you to picture the scene. Moses is, you know, he’s on the mountain, he’s getting, he’s receiving the 10 commandments from God. This is going back a little bit. God wrote these on tablets of stone, gave them to Moses. And what is Israel doing while Moses is receiving the 10 commandments? Well, Israel’s complaining against God. They’re complaining that Moses is gone.
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They’re busy building a golden calf to worship. And Moses’ brother Aaron is the lead architect in this. God’s anger burns against Israel and Moses intercedes for them. This is all Exodus 32. Moses, he comes down from the mountain, he’s so angry. He takes the tablets of stone, shatters them against the mountain.
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And then he takes the golden calf, he grinds it up into powder, puts it in water and makes Israel drink it. Moses’ brother says something really interesting about the people and he tells Moses, the people are prone to evil.
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Moses, he calls the faithful, these are the Levites, he says, strap on your swords, and I want you to go to work against your brethren. And the Levites kill 3000 of their neighbors.
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Aaron is right that the people are prone to evil. God rightly could have just wiped them out for their wickedness. He does not. By the time we get midway through Exodus 33, Moses is interceding again for the people, begging God that his presence would be with them. And then Moses says this, I pray you show me your glory.
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That’s what Moses asked of God. Show me your glory. And listen to the answer here. This is verse 19. And God says to him, I myself will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. And I will show compassion on whom.
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I will show compassion. It almost sounds like something that doesn’t follow again. Moses is asking God to see his glory and God instead tells Moses that he’s going to show him his goodness and his name. Notice a couple of things. God’s goodness is being linked to his name and it isn’t just any name but God’s covenantal name with his people.
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That’s why it’s all in capitals there. God’s covenant is the expression of his goodness to undeserving people, right? You remember Deuteronomy chapter seven, even the national covenant with Israel, the Lord did not set his love on you or choose you because you were more number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest in numbers, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath, which he swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out of a might, out.
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by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. His goodness or his grace is manifested in his covenant and God is free to be gracious to whom he desires. Man cannot obligate God in any way. Moses says, show me your glory. God says, I will.
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show you my absolute freedom to act and show mercy and compassion to whom I desire.
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Who is God showing compassion and mercy to in this scene? Well, not only Israel, but to Moses. Moses for one. Moses is a recipient here of God’s goodness. Moses just pleaded that God would not destroy Israel. He just pleads for Israel. And then immediately following that, that’s the context.
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He says, show me your glory. And it’s as if God is saying to Moses, I will not destroy them. And I will show myself to you. And you will see that I am good. I will show you my goodness. I’ll proclaim my name before you, which is good and glorious and gracious. But I’m also sovereign. And my mercy and my compassion
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is mine to give to whomever I please. That’s why when people picture Jesus as being an advocate before the Father and they picture Jesus as for them and God the Father as against them, they have it all wrong. They have it all wrong. In fact, that’s heresy. It’s heresy against our triune God. It’s a denial of the Trinity.
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John 316, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whomever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. And when Paul is quoting Exodus 33 19 there in Romans 9 15, Paul says there is no injustice on God’s part to do this. Those who receive God’s mercy and compassion receive those things by God’s good pleasure, decided by God.
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and by under no compulsion of anything outside of God. Who deserves to be in a right relationship with God and under his gracious covenant? No one. That’s why it’s called grace. It’s completely unmerited favor. Who’s guilty? Everyone. Who’s prone to evil? All of us.
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What does our catechism say about the law? It asks the question concerning God’s law. Can you keep all of this perfectly? The answer, no, for I am prone by nature to hate God and my neighbor. Let’s turn back to Romans nine.
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In Romans chapters 1-3, Paul gives us the correct understanding of man, so we have a good starting position to understand what we read here in Romans 9. Romans 9, 14 and 15 again, what shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? May it never be.
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He says to Moses, I’ll have mercy on whom I have mercy and I’ll have compassion on whom I have compassion. This answer follows the question perfectly. Is there injustice? No. There’s no injustice. God has perfect freedom and is beholden to no one. For we are all guilty. Verse 16, So then, or therefore, it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs.
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but on God who has mercy. It’s not dependent on man’s will, man’s volition. It can’t be dependent on man’s will because we are prone by nature to hate God and our neighbor. Our will is fallen. We have a fallen will. Our will would never choose God. It runs from God. That’s our natural state. The natural mind is hostile to God. Romans 8, we read that,
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Set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God. For it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God. It does not depend on the man who runs. Right? It’s not about religious work or exertion. Monkery won’t save you.
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None of that makes us acceptable. All of our deeds are sinful, they’re tainted in sin, even our good works. And the standard is always perfection. Remember back to Romans 3, as it is written, there is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks God. All have turned aside together. They have become useless. There is none who does good.
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There is not even one for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So no one can earn God’s favor. No one can warrant God’s mercy or as John Murray words it, the mercy of God is not an attainment gained by the most diligent labor to that end, but a free bestowal of grace.
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How can it be any other way? Like Adam and Eve in the garden, we would rather hide and clothe ourselves in our garments of fig leaves. Mankind is in active rebellion against God. We are golden calf builders.
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How can salvation come from us by our initiative? Paul driving home the point even more, he moves from mercy and compassion to God’s sovereignty in the other direction, not in softening hearts, but in hardening hearts. No longer is Moses or Israel in view, but now Pharaoh and the Egyptians, look at verses 17 and 18. For the scripture says to Pharaoh,
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For this very purpose I raised you up to demonstrate my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed throughout the whole earth. So then he has mercy on whom he desires and he hardens whom he desires. This is a quote from Exodus 9 16. Right? And this is what God is instructing Moses to say to Pharaoh before the plague of hail comes upon the Egyptians.
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In that same chapter in Exodus 9 verse 12 it says, And the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the Lord had spoken to Moses. God could have softened Pharaoh’s heart, but he hardened his heart for this purpose. And I want you to know that while God is sovereign in both hardening and softening hearts, these are not equal actions.
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We all start with hearts of stone. That’s the default. Hearts that are against God. Even unbelievers are not as wicked as they could be, but God’s grace restrains them. His common grace toward all humanity restrains the wicked that they would not be as wicked as they could be.
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So to harden Pharaoh’s heart is to leave him in his rebellion and sin. To remove his gracious restraint against Pharaoh. And the Passover of course celebrates God’s passing over his people. The tenth, that final plague fell on all of Egypt, both Jew and Gentile alike. Those who feared the Lord…
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were the ones who covered the frames of their door with the blood of a lamb and God passed over their homes. But there was a substitute. Something died. Paul says here that God demonstrated His power in the destruction of Pharaoh and of Egypt. He had a purpose in leaving Pharaoh and Egypt in their sins while He had a purpose in redeeming Israel. And we’ve already seen that both…
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Israel and Egypt are undeserving. They’re both idolaters, and even after God redeems Israel, after he redeems Israel, they build the golden calf.
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The point here is that it is God who chooses some to believe and some to remain, and that’s a key word, in unbelief. And when people hear that, they want to cry, Foul! They want to cry foul against God! After all, if men are dead in sin…
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And if men are prone by nature to hate God, and it is God who must take the initiative and make sinners alive to know him, then why doesn’t God cause everyone to know him?
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Why does God soften some hearts and harden others? Is God just to choose some? Listen, God would be just to choose none. Justice would be perfectly served if God did not save a single soul.
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Never cry out for justice. The fact that God saves any is not justice, it’s mercy.
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It is mercy upon undeserving sinners. Jacob and Esau, God chose before they were born. God was just to Esau. God was merciful to Jacob.
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Egypt and Israel, Pharaoh and Moses, God was just a Pharaoh. God was merciful to Moses. God was just to Egypt. God was merciful to Israel. Why?
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Verse 11 words it this way, so that God’s purpose, according to his choice, would stand.
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Another reason we can give would be found in the wording of verse 17, where God says that my name might be proclaimed throughout the earth.
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You may read those answers and they might not sound or be satisfying to you. We hear that and we think, but that’s, I know what the Bible is saying, but that’s not what I’m wanting to hear. I want to hear God give me a clear answer, a logical reason.
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so that I can appreciate and understand His purpose. And when you’re saying that, really what you’re saying is, I want God to explain His purpose to me and I’ll judge. Let Him give a reason to me.
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But God doesn’t answer to us. The whole point of what Paul is saying here is that God is free to act based on his will. Are there more objections that this raises? Yeah. Paul brings up another objection in the next verse, in verse 19. We’ll talk about that next time. But Paul’s point here.
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is that God is free to act. Man is presented in Romans chapters 1 to 3 as being a bondage to sin and God is presented as having complete and absolute freedom to act. The psalmist says in Psalm 115, our God is in the heavens, He does whatever He pleases. And you may be thinking, this is so hard to hear.
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I don’t understand God. Well first of all, God is infinite. That means without limits. You and I were finite. We have limits and logically it would be impossible for something that is finite to encompass or understand God who is infinite. Hence the prophet Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 55, God says to us, for my thoughts.
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are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
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And you may hear that and you may think to yourself, well, that’s just not satisfying to me. It’s not satisfying to just know that God’s thoughts are higher than my thoughts. That doesn’t erase my horror that God hardened Pharaoh and rose him up so that he could crush him.
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Well, turn with me to Isaiah 55.
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Is there 55?
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The text that I just quoted to you is Isaiah 55 verses 8 and 9. Just the start of the paragraph is verses 6 and 7. Let me read 6 and 7 to you so you can hear this context that God gives us.
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Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord and he will have compassion on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. See the call of the gospel goes out to everyone. God promises that any who seek him will find him. And that if any go to the Lord.
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They will find that God will have compassion on him, that God will abundantly pardon. Therefore, all who do not come to the Lord have no pardon, though the gospel is preached to them. And someone says, but it’s not fair that God would crush someone in his wrath and save others in his grace. The one who is crushed in his wrath is also invited here to come.
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Let the wicked forsake his ways and God will have compassion on him and abundantly pardon him.
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But alas, the wicked prefer their wickedness. They reject God’s offer. They mock his Christ.
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But I’ll tell you what else was determined by God. It wasn’t only Pharaoh who was raised up to be crushed. Peter tells us in Acts chapter 2, Men of Israel, listen to these words, Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through him in your midst. Just as you yourselves know, this man delivered over.
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by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God. Because long before God raised up Pharaoh, God promised to raise up another to be an object of His wrath. And just two chapters before, Isaiah 55 is Isaiah 53. And in Isaiah 53, we find the incredible words.
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but the Lord was pleased to crush him.
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Jesus, the suffering servant, would be the sin bearer, would be the curse bearer, would be the wrath bearer for sinners. All who come to Him, He saves. No one who comes to Him will He cast out. When we look at Isaac and Ishmael, when we look at Jacob and Esau, when we look at Moses,
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And Pharaoh, when we look at Israel and Egypt, when we see ourselves, the church and the world, the question is not, why, Lord, are you not just? He always is just. The question is, why, Lord, are you merciful to those who hate you?
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Why have you been merciful to me? Why have you crushed Christ for such a wretch like me?
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Why do you love me?
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and instead of hearing, because you’re a good person.
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which we know is not true. Or because I see your potential, your diamond in the rough. Or because I know deep down inside that you love me. God gives us the same answer. I’ll have mercy on whom I have mercy and I’ll have compassion on whom I have compassion.
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If you don’t know the Lord, hear the words of Isaiah again, seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to the Lord and he will have compassion on him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. If you do know the Lord, what other
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response can we have?
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For we have been rescued, and to say, Amazing grace, how sweet the sound to save the wretch like me. Let’s pray.
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Heavenly Father.
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Sovereign Lord.
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We stand in all of your insurchable judgments. Your paths are beyond tracing out.
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Our hearts are humbled by the magnitude of your mercy and your sovereignty. Lord, we confess that we do not understand your ways. We struggle with questions of justice and mercy of why you choose as you do. And yet, in these moments of questioning, we’re reminded of your righteousness, your goodness, your unfailing.
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love for us. Help us, Father, to trust in your sovereign will to rest in the knowledge that you do all things well and for your glory. Grant us the grace to accept your mysteries, knowing that you are God, that we are not. Strengthen our faith to embrace your sovereign choices, acknowledging that you are the potter and we are the clay.
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shaped and formed according to your perfect plan. We pray for those among us who are wrestling with doubt, who find themselves questioning your ways. May they find comfort in your promises, assurance in your word and peace in the knowledge that your mercies are new every morning for all those who trust in you. And as we go from
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this place, we ask that your spirit empower us to live as vessels of mercy in a world so desperately in need of your grace. Help us to reflect your light, to love all who are around us, trusting in your sovereign plan, walking in Christ our savior. We ask in his precious name. Amen.
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