This Week's Devo

 He Hasn’t Given Up

Our failures reveal our need. His mercy reveals His character.
Romans 11:6, 11–24, 28–36

Well, I messed that up.

Have you ever said those words and immediately begun imagining what God must be thinking?

Again? We have already been through this. You should know better by now.

We picture His disappointment. We imagine His patience wearing thin. And before long, we have decided that whatever purpose He had for us has probably been handed to someone more dependable.

But whose character are we describing?

God’s—or our own?

We know what it feels like to become frustrated, grow weary, and give up on something that requires more patience than we want to offer. Sometimes we assume God responds the same way.

Romans 11 calls us to look again.

Paul is addressing a difficult question. Many Israelites have rejected their Messiah. What does their unbelief mean for the promises God made to His people? Has He rejected them entirely? Has their stumbling brought His purposes to an end?

Paul’s answer is no.

God has preserved a believing remnant. Through Israel’s stumbling, salvation has come to the Gentiles. And that mercy toward the Gentiles serves a further purpose: drawing Jewish people to desire and receive the salvation found in Christ.

Israel’s stumbling does not mean God’s purposes for them are exhausted.

What a picture of His character.

God remains faithful when people are faithless. His wisdom reaches beyond the failure in front of us. His mercy accomplishes what human effort could never secure.

Paul reminds us in verse 6 that grace cannot rest on works; otherwise, it would cease to be grace.

God did not begin His work because people presented Him with an impressive record. Their weakness has never been a surprise to Him.

Neither has ours.

This chapter speaks specifically about Israel and the Gentiles, but the God whose character we encounter here is the same God we approach in our repentance, grief, and need.

And we need to know Him as He reveals Himself.

He is faithful.

In verses 28–29, Paul points to God’s enduring commitment to His covenant purposes for Israel. Their unbelief is real, but God has not become careless with His promises.

His faithfulness does not rise and fall with human consistency.

When we fail, we often begin with the question, What does this say about me? There is a place for honest examination. But we also need to ask, What do I know to be true about Him?

Our sin needs to be confessed. His character can be trusted.

He is wise.

God brought blessing to the Gentiles through Israel’s stumbling, while continuing to work toward mercy for Israel. He was accomplishing more than any one person could see.

That does not make unbelief good. It reveals how great His wisdom is.

We look at a failure and see everything that can no longer happen. God sees possibilities we cannot imagine. His thoughts and ways are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:8–9).

We cannot demand that He restore every lost opportunity or remove every consequence. But we can trust Him with a future we no longer know how to arrange.

He knows how to bring beauty from ashes.

He is kind—and holy.

Paul tells us to consider both God’s kindness and His severity (Romans 11:22). The branches were broken off because of unbelief. Those grafted in stand by faith and are warned against pride.

God’s mercy never means that sin has become harmless.

The One who welcomes us calls us to turn from what destroys us. His kindness gives us reason to return, confess, and obey. We dishonor that kindness when we use it as permission to keep doing what He has called us to leave behind.

Grace should make us willing to face our sin honestly because we know the character of the One we are approaching.

He is merciful.

Paul says that God is able to graft the natural branches in again if they do not continue in unbelief (Romans 11:23).

There is hope for people who have stumbled.

That hope rests in God’s power and mercy. We cannot restore ourselves through regret, punish ourselves into righteousness, or prove that we finally deserve His help.

We come to Him in faith.

Perhaps you have made a choice you deeply regret. Perhaps you are discouraged by a struggle you thought you had already overcome.

Bring it into the light. Confess it. Seek the help and accountability you need. Make amends where you can. Take the next obedient step.

You can do those difficult things while trusting His mercy.

Paul ends Romans 11 overwhelmed by the depth of God’s wisdom and knowledge. After considering these difficult truths, he worships.

That is where a clearer view of God should lead us, too.

We do not know everything He will do with our failures. But we know the character He has revealed: faithful in His promises, wise in His purposes, holy in His judgments, and abundant in mercy.

Look honestly at where you have stumbled.

Then lift your eyes to the One calling you to trust Him.

Your failure has not changed who He is.