I don’t understand

I will call Not my People, My People,
and she who is Unloved, Beloved.

And it will be in the place where they were told,
you are not my people,
there they will be called sons of the living God. (Romans 9:25-26)

Lord, I don’t always understand your ways. I don’t understand why you choose to show mercy to some and harden others. We’re all sinners with hardened hearts. Why not judge us all?

I don’t understand why you would choose Jacob over Esau. Both were terribly flawed people. Why choose either of them to be the ancestor of the Messiah?

I don’t understand why you would choose to judge Pharaoh and the people of Egypt and to show mercy to Israel. Both rejected you time and again. Why not destroy both in the Red Sea?

And I don’t understand why you would choose me. I deserve to be destroyed like Sodom and Gomorrah were.

Yet for some reason, you chose to love me, to call me as one of your people, and to make me your son.

I don’t understand, Lord. But I’m grateful.