Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face evermore! Psalm 105:4 NKJV.

How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:103-105.

We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10 NKJV.

Before I asked God to help me know Him as I read my Bible, everything in it felt as removed from everyday life as He felt removed up into the heavens far above us. And He came close and showed me how to walk beside Him and listen. This isn’t a race. This is trusting Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit. And in our chapter, Romans 11, is so much that gives hope for all of us. I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? “Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.” But what is the divine response to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s gracious choice. But it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; just as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day.” And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, and a stumbling block and a retribution to them, let their eyes be darkened to see not, and bend their backs forever.” I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be! But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry. If somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? v. 1-15. Life from the dead…can that not be finding God’s love, all of us, dead in our not knowing God, all of us, truly alive as we seek Him? If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember…that it is not you who supports the root…but the root supports you. v. 16-18. And God is the vine! He provides Himself…and the soil, the water, the warmth of the sunshine, the seeds, the growth to fruition in Him! You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited…but fear…for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery – so that you will not be wise in your own estimation – that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.” “This is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” v. 19-27. Remember, this is God’s work! From the standpoint of the gospel…they are enemies for your sake…but from the standpoint of God’s choice…they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. v. 28-29. Wow…again…for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable…For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience…so that He may show mercy to all. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. v. 30-36.

Think about our world and all that has transpired through all the ages of mankind. We can’t make this up! Every facet of creation He knows because He designed all. How can anyone be arrogant who loves God? How can we dare to look down on others? For God has shut up all in disobedience…so that He may show mercy to all. I may not be able to understand all of this living as I am in our present portion of time. I look around and see disobedience everywhere. I also see love and compassion and kindness. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor…or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again…for from Him and through Him and to Him are all things! To Him be the glory forever…Amen! Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path…and He will walk beside us the whole way if we but ask. We may not understand all that is needed, but Creator God knows and He is working always.