ROMANS 11:2

“God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?”

In our American society today, there is an epidemic of estrangement among family members. In particular, adult children have estranged themselves from their parents causing deep hurts and pains. But I would dare to guess that if any of those adult children came back to their parents for reconciliation, they would be welcomed with open arms. Because no matter the amount of pain that was there during the estrangement, that parent’s love for their children never wavered.

Israel had rebelled time and time and time again against the Lord. They had sought other gods, resulting in judgment and exile. However, God never stopped loving His children. Paul will use an example from the life of Elijah in the next few verses to illustrate that point. He says, “God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew.” God had a plan and purpose for the nation of Israel. Therefore, He will not break that covenant He has made with them.

APPLICATION

The Greek word used here for “rejected” paints a great picture. It’s apótheó “from apo and the middle voice of otheo or otho (to shove); to push off, figuratively, to reject — cast away, put away (from), thrust away (from).” (Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance). Have you ever shoved someone away who tried to come back in your life? I have to admit that I have done that. Why? Fear of being hurt again, a lack of trust in the relationship. But God does not do that, does He?

I love the use of apótheó here. In Romans 10:21 we saw God with His arms outstretched towards Israel. It’s real hard to shove someone away if your arms are outstretched to receive them. Outstretched arms show a desire to bring them in close. I saw a reel recently on Instagram that showed wives welcoming their husbands home with outstretched arms. The moment they came in the door, that’s what the husbands saw. And what did they do? They all went straight to their wives and embraced them.

That’s what God does to us. He stretches out His arms to embrace us, not shove us away. He stands ready to bring us in close. But for that to happen we have to lean in and not pull away. We’ll see the exchange between Elijah and God that Paul referenced in today’s verse in the next verses. Hang on. This gets good.

Oh Lord, I am so thankful that You are always ready to embrace me and not shove me away.

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