God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
Think about people who find themselves in religious ruts. They discover a number of things about themselves. They will find that they are getting older but not getting any holier. Time is their enemy, not their friend. The time they trusted and looked to is betraying them, for they often said to themselves, "The passing of time will help me. I know some good old saints, so as I get older I'll get holier and better. Time will help me, purify me and revive me." They said that the year before last, but they were not helped any last year. Time betrayed them. They were not any better last year than they had been the year before.
This is God allowing Himself to be God. This is God in His own freewill rightly exercising sovereignty over a creation that belongs exclusively to Him. This is saying God’s sovereignty tops man’s freewill. This is God in His mercy choosing to not allow the whole world to perish, but rather calling some to Himself entirely on the basis of His grace.
