Romans 11:7-10

What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he didn’t obtain, but the chosen ones obtained it, and the rest were hardened. According as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.” David says,

“Let their table be made a snare, and a trap,
a stumbling block, and a retribution to them.
Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see.
Bow down their back always.”

Here we read that only the chosen few of Israel have found what they were looking for and they didn’t find it because they were so good or did anything at all but because they were chosen by God. Paul tells us that the rest were hardened. It even says that God gave them eyes that couldn’t see and ears that couldn’t hear.

Should we blame God for hardening the hearts of people? Not at all. What we should be doing is thanking God for deciding to take people for Himself.

Misusing The Law can be a trap because it can lead to people thinking that they are righteous instead of causing them to realize that they are sinners. God has to bring us to the realization that we are not being saved by The Law but that The Law is actually bringing about our death. If we keep going after works instead of God’s grace, we will work and work until our backs are broken.

Although Paul was talking about the Jewish people here, it is obvious that it is also true that there are only a few Christians among the Gentiles as well. We as Gentiles are also chosen by God. It is because of Him that we are saved.

This doesn’t mean that we don’t choose. We must still chose to believe in Jesus because that is the way we find out that we were already chosen.