“As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.”
Romans 9:13
When I was first exposed to the doctrines of grace and the sovereignty of God, the above verse became the sledge-hammer that I used to pulverize the erroneous doctrines of “God loving everybody” and “Christ dying for everyone.” It was almost as though I rejoiced in the fact that “God hated Esau.” I don’ feel or think that way any longer. The more God shows me how much l am like Jacob, the wretched deceiver that he was, the more my heart is astonished that God could love Jacob or me. I understand how He could hate me, but how He could love me is beyond my understanding.