His purpose for our life

It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy (Romans 9:16).

God has created each of us with a purpose. Not just any purpose, HIS purpose. Sometimes what we want in our own lives does not match up with the purpose God has created us for. Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy and He hardens whom He wants to harden (v.18).

He called Pharoh to be pitted against God's people so that God could show His power and that His name might be proclaimed in all the earth (Exodus 9:16). He did this in the same way He called Abraham to be the father of many nations, and Mary to experience the virgin birth, and Paul to be a humble apostle. It was He who called some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-13).

Some of our purposes may involve suffering and hardening, but the result of such things is that God is glorified and His name is lifted high for all to see. We have a choice to be obedient so that His name is glorified or to be diobedient by ignoring our calling so that our own names are lifted high. In the end, God's purpose will be satisfied even if it means that our own plans fail. Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. For the Lord will carry out His sentence on earth with speed and finality (Romans 9:27).