A Moldable Heart
A reflection on Romans 9:14-24
One of my boys was tying his shoes the other day. I realized he was tying his shoes in a way that I had never learned. I only learned one way: the bunny ears! I was intrigued by this new method, only to quickly give up. Because learning anything new at my age sometimes feels like such a chore. Something as small as tying shoes, even.
How many times do we refuse to learn or change something about ourselves because we feel like we’re “stuck in our ways”? Sometimes, if I’m being honest, it’s simply our stubbornness.
This past Sunday, we reflected on Romans 9:14-24. I encourage you to reread it.
Here’s the general question we were left reflecting on:
Is God still able to shape our hearts? Or are we set in our ways?
Paul reflects on both Pharaoh’s rebellion toward God in Egypt and Israel’s rebellion in the wilderness. Paul draws back to Israel’s past to build a case: Yahweh will have His way. Meaning, He will complete His purposes on this earth with or without our help.
And the selection of His people is not for salvation, but for service. Yahweh has been choosing a people with whom He can collaborate. Yes, He could do it on His own, but He wants to do it with humans. Yet He will not work with stubbornness or a hardened heart. Time and time again, God refuses to do so.
In verses 19-21, Paul reflects on Isaiah’s words:
19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?” 20 But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
The imagery of clay comes directly from Isaiah’s words toward Israel. God was warning His people not to refuse the hand of God in shaping them. Israel had time and time again rebelled against God. Setting up an idol while Moses was on the mountain with God was one huge betrayal. It was Israel trying to gain its independence from the one true God.
God’s response? In His mercy, He led Israel into a remolding phase.
Yes, before the clay was set. Before there was no going back.
And here’s what we should ponder in our own lives:
Will we resist God’s gentle hand in molding and shaping us?
It is not a forceful hand, but the hand of One who calls Himself “gentle and humble in heart.”
And is there a point at which it can become too late?
One might argue, “Well, do we even really have a say?”
Yes, you do.
Paul does not reference Isaiah’s words in order to argue that we are nothing but a lump of clay. Placing Chapter 9 in the context of the whole book of Romans helps us determine this. We’ve read Romans 1-8, and in those chapters Paul has gone into great detail to argue who we are and who we are not.
We are children of God, coheirs with Christ. And He is choosing a people to do work with, to collaborate with. But it will be with those who choose to allow God’s Spirit to form Christ in them.
Paul refers back to Pharaoh. In the story of Israel, Yahweh even uses the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart as a means to demonstrate God’s might and glory. If Pharaoh had not tried to strike Israel down, we would not have heard the stories of God’s judgment coming upon Egypt.
By no means am I condoning Pharaoh’s approach. His heart was already hardened toward God. He did not want to release the Israelites. They were his workhorses. Pharaoh rejected God slowly and slowly, until there was no coming back.
God’s judgment on Pharaoh was the continuing hardening of his heart. Yes, His judgment was giving Pharaoh what he wanted.
And even in Pharaoh’s rebellion, God had His way.
I imagine God would have preferred it to be with Pharaoh. It was Pharaoh who refused.
God uses human mistakes and even human rebellion for His purposes.
What does this mean for us?
We ought to desire for God to mold our hearts.
An important takeaway: getting our way doesn’t always mean that God is for us. But maybe even more importantly, when we don’t get our way, it does not mean God is against us.
Correction is not necessarily a sign of God’s wrath, but can be an expression of His love. The author of Hebrews references Proverbs in reminding us:
Hebrews 12:6 NIV
“because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
By getting what you want, I don’t mean that you never get your way. But I would argue that we shouldn’t confuse getting what we want with being aligned with God. It isn’t always a sign of God’s purpose. In the context of obedience toward God, it can even be a sign of God’s judgment. Being given over to our own sin is one of the clearest pictures of God’s wrath.
Here’s the warning: We can become so immersed in what we think is correct that we eventually become stubborn. And in the process refuse the gentle hand of God altogether.
I know we have been asking a lot of questions. I’d love to end with just two more to reflect on:
Are we still moldable? Do we still respond to the heart of God?
I’d argue that God’s people respond to His Word with an openness to be reshaped.
The story of Moses ends with an older generation, set in its ways of rebellion, NOT able to see the promises of God.
It was Joshua’s generation that eventually inherited the land. This has nothing to do with age. Joshua was not a young guy by the way.
It has everything to do with the posture of our hearts.
I pray we would be a humble people who earnestly receive God’s correction in our lives.
