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S-Scripture | Romans 11:36 “ For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.
O-Observation | Paul has been spending time grieving how the national and natural Jews are still rejecting their Messiah. However, He’s moved into reassuring himself and his gentile friends that this has all happened according to the outworking of God’s plan (See Romans 10). He warns the non-Jewish believers, so that they do not become proud of God’s choosing them. He warns that unbelief is the cause of any branch being broken off from the tree of God’s salvation. Then, he pens a powerful reflection of God’s greatness and His right to do as He pleases regarding everyone’s salvation as he ends this section of the letter. Romans 11:33-36 are left to us as a beautiful doxology of praise we would do well to hide in our heart and repeat often in our lives.
A-Application | Romans 11:36 teaches us that everything that is, has come from the Lord. Everything exist through and for Him. This means all of our lives and all that we have is only a gift that has been entrusted to us. Our family. Our friends. Our bank accounts. Our plans. Our desires and thoughts… None of it is for us, but for God alone. Even the gift of forgiveness and grace through Jesus death and resurrection. Even the gift of eternity, even the love of God for us, is for Him and for His glory. What is our response to the fact that God is at the center of all reality? A right response is a love for a God who graciously first loved us. A love that calls us to the same declaration of praise as Paul. May all that I am and all that I have be for His glory alone, forever.
P-Prayer | Father, give me a humble and lowly mind through passages like these. That I might realize the truth that has always been. All of everything, including every moment of this day and every breath of my life, has been given to me from you and is not for me. All things are for you and your glory alone. Forgive me and cleans me in the work of your Son Jesus Christ for all the ways I have not lived to this one end. And change me by the power of your Word, to live your glory alone forever. Amen.
