DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- BLESSINGS FROM FAILURE

DAD'S RAMBLINGS – BLESSINGS FROM FAILURE

"I say the, have they (the Jews) stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!" (Romans 11:11-12)

God is famous for His ability to bring good out of bad, of turning a negative into a positive. Throughout the Old Testament narrative, there were bad things that God changed into good. Take for example Joseph – sold into bondage to become the savior of the Jewish nation. Or Bathsheba who was violated by King David, only to have a son, Solomon, who became such a great king. Or Naomi, who lost her husband and two sons, but through her daughter-in-law Ruth and her Ruth's husband, Boaz, she became the Great-grandmother of King David. Or Job who suffered tremendously but in the end was blessed more than he was before he got sick. And the examples go on and on.

Jesus came to the Jewish nation and was rejected and killed. Even after His resurrection, many of the Jews would not accept Him as their Messiah. God is not willing than any should perish, so I'm sure that He was not happy with the rejection of His Son. But it was because of that failure to receive Christ that the whole world of non-Jews was blessed. Their fall became the avenue of riches of the rest of the human race.

As we saw in the Book of Acts, the rejection by the Jews prodded the Apostle Paul to go to the Gentiles with the Gospel.

So, even though it is not a pleasant thought, it was the failure of the Jews to accept Jesus that caused the Gospel of Christ to spread beyond the Jewish nation to the Gentiles. We are the recipients of the riches of that failure. Not that we should boast about it, but to be thankful for God's amazing grace. And because of His grace, He can bring something good out of the bad things of my life for His glory.

Love, Dad