The Story Behind the Struggle

“Are We Just Pawns?”  
Reflections on Hard Hearts, Free Will, and a Sovereign God  
(from Pastor Bob’s sermon on Romans 9:17–29)

If you’ve ever wrestled with questions like…

- Do I actually have free will, or is everything already decided?  
- If God is in control of everything, does that make us just pawns?  
- Does God *cause* suffering and sin to accomplish His plans?

…you’re in good company. Those are exactly the kinds of questions that rise to the surface in Romans 9, and they’re the questions Pastor Bob tackled this week.

Romans 9 is not “light reading.” It presses into some of the deepest tensions of faith: God’s sovereignty (His total control and authority) and human responsibility (our real choices and accountability). But it’s also a chapter that can deepen our trust and awe, especially when life feels confusing or unfair.

The Story Behind the Struggle

Paul (the writer of Romans) is wrestling with a painful reality: most of his own people, the Israelites, are rejecting Jesus as the Messiah. Even today, only a small percentage of ethnic Jews follow Jesus.

So the big question becomes:  
**Has God’s word failed? Did His promises to Israel fall apart?**

Paul’s answer is: **No.**  

God’s work with Israel—and with us—has always been grounded in "grace and mercy", not ancestry, heritage, effort, or spiritual résumé. Salvation is God’s gift from start to finish. If it depended on us, it wouldn’t truly be grace.

To make his point, Paul uses several Old Testament examples. The last one he brings up is "Pharaoh" in the book of Exodus.

 Pharaoh and the Hard Heart

In Exodus, Israel has been enslaved in Egypt for over 400 years. They cry out to God, and God responds by sending Moses to confront Pharaoh and lead Israel out. But in that story, we read something unsettling: **God hardens Pharaoh’s heart.**

Paul quotes Exodus in Romans 9:17–18:

 “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.  So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.”

That raises all kinds of questions:

- Is God just using Pharaoh like a disposable tool?  
- If God hardens someone’s heart, how are they responsible for what they do?  
- Is that *fair*?

Paul actually voices our protest:  

 “You will say to me then, ‘Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?’” (Romans 9:19)

In modern terms:  
"That’s not fair!"

And instead of giving a philosophical breakdown, Paul answers by reminding us **who God is and who we are.**

 Potter and Clay: Who Gets to Judge Whom?

Paul uses an image from the Old Testament: **God as the potter, us as the clay.**

“Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’” (Romans 9:20)

That’s humbling. It doesn’t mean our questions are bad or that God dislikes honest wrestling. But it does mean:

1. "God is the Creator; we are not."
   He defines what is right and wrong. It is impossible for Him to do wrong. If God does it, it cannot be evil by definition—because He *is* the standard of goodness.

2. "Our hearts are not neutral."
   Jeremiah 17:9–10 says our hearts are “deceitful” and “desperately sick.” In other words, we don’t even see ourselves clearly, let alone God, justice, or truth. We need Him to show us what is right.

So when we put God “on trial”—deciding whether He measures up to our internal standards—we’re flipping the universe upside down. He searches *our* hearts. We don’t sit in judgment over His.

Yet that same God is described as slow to anger, overflowing with love, and perfectly just. The One who holds total authority is also the One who sent His Son to die for us. That combination is what makes this both sobering and deeply hopeful.

 What Does It Mean That God “Hardens” a Heart?

The Bible describes Pharaoh’s heart in three ways:

- Pharaoh hardens his own heart.  
- His heart is “hardened” (without saying who did it).  
- God hardens Pharaoh’s heart.

So what’s going on?

Pastor Bob introduced a helpful term: "judicial hardening" (or judicial blindness). Think of it as "God removing His gracious restraint" from people who persistently reject Him, allowing them to become more firmly set in the path they’ve already chosen.

In the original language, “harden” has the idea of **making firm, stiffening, solidifying**. Think of concrete:

- When it’s wet, it’s moldable and can be shaped.  
- Once it sets, it’s hard and locked into whatever shape it was in.

God didn’t *create* the evil in Pharaoh’s heart. Pharaoh was already opposed to God, already choosing rebellion. But God, for His own purposes, **solidified** Pharaoh in that path.

In other words:

- God does not "cause" sin.  
- God does, at times, "hand people over" to the consequences and direction of their own choices.  
- He can then use even their stubbornness for His larger purposes.

This isn’t just about Pharaoh. Romans 1 describes God “giving people over” to their desires when they continually reject His truth. 2 Thessalonians 2 talks about people in the last days being hardened in their allegiance to evil.

A key principle:  
"God hardens those who have already hardened themselves."

He doesn’t grab a tender, responsive heart and randomly freeze it. He responds to hearts that continually say, “No, I don’t want You,” and at some point, He honors that choice.

So Where Does Free Will Fit In?

If God is sovereign and can harden hearts, do we really have free will?

The Bible holds both together:

God is completely sovereign. "He “ordains whatever happens,” as an older church confession puts it.  

*We are truly responsible."

 Our choices are real. Our sins are ours. We can’t blame God.

James 1:13–14 is clear:

“Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’  
 for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.  
 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.”

So:

- God created a world where sin was possible and knew it would happen.  
- He allows it but doesn’t cause it.  
- He remains holy and blameless while we remain accountable for our choices.

And here is where things feel like a paradox:  

"God is fully in control, and we are truly choosing."

We don’t have the mental capacity to see exactly how those fit together, but the Bible consistently presents both as true.

Does God Use Sin and Suffering?

This leads to another honest question:  
If God can harden hearts and use people’s choices, "does He use sin and suffering for His gain?"

Better wording might be:  
"Can God work *through* sin and suffering—without causing them—to accomplish good purposes?"

And the answer is: yes.

Romans 8:28 says:

 “For those who love God all things work together for good…”

“All things” includes our sin, others’ sin, suffering, loss, and tragedy. That doesn’t mean:

- Our sin isn’t evil.  
- Someone else’s sin wasn’t real harm.  
- Our loss doesn’t matter.

It means God is so powerful and wise that "nothing" is beyond the reach of His redemptive work.

Often, people who’ve walked through addiction, sexual sin, or deep grief become the most compassionate and effective helpers for others walking the same path. The wound itself is not good—but God can bring good out of it.

That’s not God *causing* evil. It’s God refusing to let evil have the last word.

Why Would God Harden Israel’s Heart?

Back to Romans 9. Pharaoh is really a **setup** for Paul’s main point about Israel.

Paul says God has allowed Israel, as a whole, to be hardened for a time. Why?

Romans 11 gives the larger picture:

 “Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles…” (Romans 11:11–12)

In other words:

Israel’s rejection of Jesus opened the door for the message of Jesus to spread **to the rest of the world** (the Gentiles—anyone not ethnically Jewish).  

Their stumbling became the occasion for the good news to reach us.

Paul quotes the prophets Hosea and Isaiah to show this was always part of God’s plan:  

- People who were “not my people” would become “my people.”  
- A “remnant” of Israel would be saved.  
- If God hadn’t preserved even a small group, Israel would have ended up like Sodom and Gomorrah—completely destroyed.

So why does God allow this hardening?

- To expand His family beyond one nation.  
- To bring in people like you and me.  
- To ultimately bring both Jews and non-Jews together under Jesus.

And Romans 11 hints that this hardening for Israel is **temporary**. There will be a future turning of many Jewish people to Jesus. The story isn’t over.

So Where Does This Land for Us?

This can all feel very “big picture” and theoretical. But Romans 9 also presses personal questions:

 1. "Is there any area where your heart is hard?"

Hardness doesn’t just show up in “non-believers.” Followers of Jesus can have hardened places too. Some possibilities:

- A long-standing pattern of sin you’re justifying or minimizing.  
- Bitterness in your marriage or another relationship where you feel deeply wronged.  
- A cynical, closed-off reaction to God because of disappointment, tragedy, or unanswered prayers.  
- A numbness toward spiritual things—“I’ve heard all this before; it doesn’t move me.”

If you regularly resist, explain away, or ignore what you know is right, your heart can slowly “set,” like concrete. That doesn’t have to be the end of the story—but it is a warning.

2.  "Are you delaying responding to Jesus?"

Maybe you’ve heard the message of Jesus many times:  
that He is Lord and Savior, that He died for your sins and rose again, that forgiveness and new life are offered to you as a gift.

And maybe you keep saying, “Not yet. Maybe later.”

The danger is that “later” can quietly morph into “never,” not because God stops being willing to receive you, but because your heart grows colder and less responsive.

The Bible’s repeated nudge is:  
“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”

If you sense even a faint tug toward God, don’t ignore it.

 3. **Are you arguing with God?**

This might look like:

- “God, I think You’re wrong about this part of my life.”  
- “I don’t like what I see in the Bible about this topic, so I’ll decide what’s right.”  
- “If You were good, You would have done things differently.”

There is a world of difference between **honest questions** and **putting God on trial**. One is bringing your confusion to a Father. The other is taking His place.

Romans 9 calls us to a posture shift:

From: “I know better than God.”  
To: “You are the potter; I’m the clay. Help me trust You, even when I don’t understand.”

 Awe, Not Answers

At the end of the day, Romans 9 doesn’t give us a neat formula for how sovereignty and free will fit together. What it does give us is a bigger view of God:

- He is utterly in control.  
- He is never the author of evil.  
- He holds us truly responsible.  
- He is patient and just.  
- He is overflowing with mercy, opening the door for people who were once “not His people” to become His beloved children.

We aren’t pawns. Our choices matter.  
But we also aren’t in charge. God is.

And that’s actually good news.

Because if the universe is finally governed not by our fragile wisdom, but by a sovereign, holy, loving God—then even the most confusing chapters of our lives are held in hands far more capable than our own.

Scriptures Referenced

- Romans 9:6, 17–18, 19–23, 25–29  
- Romans 8:28  
- Romans 10–11 (esp. 11:11–12)  
- Romans 1:18–25, 24–27  
- Exodus 7–10 (esp. 7:13; 8:15; 9:16 and the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart)  
- 1 Timothy 2:3–4  
- Jeremiah 17:9–10  
- Colossians 1 (Christ upholding all things)  
- Job 23:13; 42:2 (and the broader book of Job)  
- Hosea (esp. 2:23; 1:10 – quoted in Romans 9:25–26)  
- Isaiah 10:22–23; 1:9 (quoted in Romans 9:27–29)  
- James 1:13–14  
- 2 Thessalonians 2:10–12