For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” – Romans 9:15
As the Israelites traveled and camped in the wilderness for forty years after fleeing Egypt, Moses had to intercede for them more than once. In today’s verse, Paul quotes a portion of Exodus 33, where Moses was doing just that once again because of the idolatry of the people. God’s response seems to indicate that He limits His mercy and compassion.
One commentary writer says, “What God says here is fair because God is God and we are not. This is His right and it is right because He is also the infinitely good God in all that He does. God is sovereign in dispensing of His mercy. We simply do not have His eternal, transcendent, omniscient, etc. perspective, nor could we (now) with our finite minds. In future glory, what perplexes and discomforts us now will fade into oblivion as we behold His face and come to understand His matchless, infinite wisdom.”
In Isaiah 30:18, the prophet writes, “The Lord waits to be gracious to you, therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice: blessed are all those who wait for him.” Sin has separated humankind from a righteous and just God. Yet God is nonetheless merciful and compassionate to all by giving us His Son, Jesus. The prophet Micah predicted just that: “He will again have compassion on us; for he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19).
In dispensing His mercy, God never abandons His sovereignty. Theologian Charles Spurgeon reminds you that God is sovereign: “If there is one doctrine in the world which reveals the enmity of the human heart more than another, it is the doctrine of God’s sovereignty.… This means that God’s mercy and compassion cannot be subject to any cause outside his free grace. God had mercy on the Israelites (not destroying them for their idolatry), not because they deserved it, but simply because he chose to be merciful.”
There is a day of judgment coming, and it will not be good for those who have shown contempt for God’s goodness. Spurgeon says, “Believers should not be afraid of that day“ because they have availed themselves of the mercy and compassion of God. As a blessed recipient of that mercy, you are to conduct yourself accordingly and engage in the “good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).
Today’s Verse: Romans 9:15
For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Recommended for further reading: Ephesians 4:1-7
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
All Scripture quotations and audio are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
