Romans 9:19-23

¹⁹Are you going to object, "So how can God blame us for anything since he''s in charge of everything? If the big decisions are already made, what say do we have in it?"p

²⁰Who in the world do you think you are to second-guess God? Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn''t talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, "Why did you shape me like this?"q

²¹Isn''t it obvious that a potter has a perfect right to shape one lump of clay into a vase for holding flowers and another into a pot for cooking beans?r

²²If God needs one style of pottery especially designed to show his angry displeasures

²³and another style carefully crafted to show his glorious goodness, isn''t that all right?