GOD DOES NOT MAKE YOU BEHAVE THE WAY YOU DO
15 THE LORD TOLD MOSES THAT HE HAS PITY AND MERCY ON ANYONE HE WANTS TO.
16 Everything then depends on God's mercy and not on what people want or do.
17 In the Scriptures the Lord says to the king of Egypt, “I let you become king, so that I could show you my power and be praised by all people on earth.”
18 Everything depends on what God decides to do, and he can either have pity on people or make them stubborn.
19 Someone may ask, “How can God blame us, if he makes us behave in the way he wants us to?”
20 But, my friend, I ask, “Who do you think you are to question God? Does the clay have the right to ask the potter why he shaped it the way he did?
21 Doesn't a potter have the right to make a fancy bowl and a plain bowl out of the same lump of clay?”
Romans 9:15-21 (Contemporary English Version)
15 For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”
16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
17 For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.”
18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
19 You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?”
20 But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it , “Why have you made me like this?”
21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?"
Romans 9:15-21 (NKJV)
13 LET NO ONE SAY WHEN HE IS TEMPTED, “I AM TEMPTED BY GOD”; FOR GOD CANNOT BE TEMPTED BY EVIL, NOR DOES HE HIMSELF TEMPT ANYONE.
14 BUT EACH ONE IS TEMPTED WHEN HE IS DRAWN AWAY BY HIS OWN DESIRES AND ENTICED.
15 THEN, WHEN DESIRE HAS CONCEIVED, IT GIVES BIRTH TO SIN; AND SIN, WHEN IT IS full-grown, BRINGS FORTH DEATH."
James 1:13-15 (NKJV)
The writings of Paul could be said to be hard to understand because of things like we see in the above passages of the Bible (2 Peter 3:16).
Verses 18 and 19 of Romans 9 could be considered a bit controversial, and at the same time contradictory to some other parts of the Bible, But not really.
The passage says: "THEREFORE HE, GOD, HAS MERCY ON WHOM HE WILLS, AND WHOM HE WILLS HE HARDENS" (Romans 9:18 NKJV).
Another translation says: "EVERYTHING DEPENDS ON WHAT GOD DECIDES TO DO, AND HE CAN EITHER HAVE PITY ON PEOPLE OR MAKE THEM STUBBORN" (Romans 9:18 CEV)
The rhetoric question follows in verse 19:
"HOW CAN GOD BLAME US, IF HE MAKES US BEHAVE IN THE WAY HE WANTS US TO?” (CEV)
In other words, how can God blame people since He made them behave the way they do? But the truth is, God does not make anyone behave the way they do. God only works in agreement with what He does know that every individual person would do or be. He is not the One who made the person do whatever they do.
God preplanned things about individual person's life based on His foreknowing or foreknowledge, the knowing beforehand, about the person. The responsibility of individual person's choices in life is not on God. In other words, God does determine the choices made by individual person in life, thus, He is not responsible for the evil that might be the consequences of whatever choice the person made or not.
Apostle James made us understand:
13 " . . . FOR GOD CANNOT BE TEMPTED BY EVIL, NOR DOES HE HIMSELF TEMPT ANYONE. 14 BUT EACH ONE IS TEMPTED WHEN HE IS DRAWN AWAY BY HIS OWN DESIRES AND ENTICED" (James 1:13,14 NKJV).
Whatever the negative thing that happened to anyone is a byproduct of the person's desire. God is not the One who tempted the person with the evil that resulted in the negative or evil consequences, the desire of the person caused it.
We are also made to know that any sin committed by anyone has its root in the desires of the person: " . . . WHEN DESIRE HAS CONCEIVED, IT GIVES BIRTH TO SIN; AND SIN, WHEN IT IS FULL-GROWN, BRINGS FORTH DEATH" (James 1:15 NKJV).
In other words, the devil does not solely responsible for the sin committed by anyone. The person must have desired the sin before the devil or a demon help the craving or desire of the person. So, the primary foe or enemy of any believer is the person's flesh and mind, the human nature—the adamic nature.
The question now is, How do you tame or control your desires?
Your desires can be tamed or controlled by being transformed in the thinking of your mind (Romans 12:1,2).
If you can mortify or stiffened your flesh (Colossians 3:5), sacrifice It, that is, presented It a living sacrifice to God (Romans 12:1), and transformed your mind by renewing It with the word of God (Romans 12:2); your desires would automatically change.
Whoever has not prevailed over the human nature, the flesh and the mind, cannot have a wholesome desires. Desires are products of what you feed your mind and flesh with (Romans 8:5).
When you feed your mind on the things that relished or pleased the flesh, you cannot but have desires for sins. What goes into your mind produces your thoughts; and thoughts are your desires: "FOR OUT OF THE HEART PROCEED EVIL THOUGHTS, MURDERS, ADULTERIES, FORNICATIONS, THEFTS, FALSE WITNESS, BLASPHEMIES" (Matthew 15:19 NKJV).
This shows that, your mind being referred to as heart in the above Bible passage is the gateway which you have to guard: "GUARD YOUR HEART ABOVE ALL ELSE, FOR IT DETERMINES THE COURSE OF YOUR LIFE" (Proverbs 4:23 NLT).
"Above all else, GUARD YOUR HEART, for everything you do flows from it."
Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)
"GUARD YOUR HEART more than anything else, because the source of your life flows from it."
Proverbs 4:23 (God's Word translation)
"More than anything you GUARD, PROTECT YOUR MIND, for life flows from it."
Proverbs 4:23 (Common English Bible)
You are the gatekeeper of your mind. You should have Bible sense to know how to keep or guard your mind and protect it from every debris or rubbish that may be sent from the world. You should have enough Bible sense to sieve everything that goes into your mind.
Peace.