Mercy & Love

Romans 9:²⁴ “And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.” (emphasis added).

In Christ, the Bible says that we are among those whom God has chosen, both from the Jews and the Gentiles. It means that He has already accepted us. He has already chosen us. He has already decided to have mercy on us. So, you are already a part of the mercy gang, the people whom God has chosen to have mercy on. Do not second guess whether you are a part of the mercy gang because you are a part of it. God has chosen you, and He has chosen to have mercy on you. And this is big! God says in Romans 9:^13, “…I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.” That is strong, and you may struggle with this thought. I will just explain this to help someone because I struggled with it myself. I was like, “Hated Esau?”

The question is, how did God demonstrate His love for Jacob? Think about it beyond the blessing; those were the dynamics of their choices, and God did not intervene. It is not the blessing that demonstrated how God loved Jacob. And it was not losing the blessing that demonstrated how God hated Esau. Those were the dynamics of their choices. The gain of the birth right and the loss of the birth right was simply choice dynamics period. It had nothing to do with God. However, God had already seen it, and those were the things that repelled Him. That Esau did not even appreciate what he had. So, how did God show His love to Jacob and His displeasure to Esau? Let me explain it.

Think about the life of Jacob. Jacob’s life was a bed of roses because there were a lot of thorns underneath the beautiful rose petals. Jacob’s life was not necessarily a smooth path because God loved him. Jacob’s life was filled with God’s disciplines. God disciplined Jacob. My grandma would say, “I will collect this behaviour from your hand.” If you are Nigerian and from the Yoruba tribe, particularly, you understand what that means. God collected Jacob’s bad behaviour from his hand. God broke him and dealt with him. God probably looked at Jacob and said, “You think you are smart and cunning? I will introduce you to your senior, the one who will show you what being cunning really means.” God dealt with Jacob in His blessing him.

On the other hand, how did God demonstrate His hatred for Esau? God did nothing about everything Esau did. It is scary! God did not correct Esau once; check the scriptures. Even when Esau was taking wives to spite his father and doing all sorts of crazy things, God left him.

Prayer: Father, I surrender to Your discipline because scriptures say that whoever the Father loves and accepts, He disciplines. Do not stay silent on my errors, in the Name of Jesus. Amen!