“The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.” [Proverbs 16:4]
“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?” [Romans 11:34]
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.” [Isaiah 55:8]
“For he says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’” [Romans 9:15]
“So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.” [Romans 9:16]
Yet “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” [Matthew 23:37]
“For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?” [Isaiah 14:27]
“For who can resist his will?” [Romans 9:19]
“But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’” [Romans 9:20]
“Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?” [Romans 9:21]
“For we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.” [Isaiah 64:8]
“For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” [1 Samuel 16:7]
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked.” [Ephesians 2:1]
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.” [Ephesians 2:4–5]
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” [Ephesians 2:8]
“Unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” [John 3:3]
“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” [John 3:8]
“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” [2 Corinthians 4:6]
And “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” [John 1:14]
For “all that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.” [John 6:37]
And “whoever comes to me I will never cast out” [John 6:37], for “everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.” [John 6:45]
Yet “whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” [John 3:36]
“For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.” [Romans 11:32]
“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” [Romans 11:33]
“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” [Romans 11:36]