The “what if’s” of Scripture fascinate me. We see one in 1 Samuel 13:
13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. 14 But now your kingdom shall not continue. …
The rough syntax of the Hebrew perhaps hints at some hurt and agitation–perhaps growing anger–in Samuel’s voice. For Saul, a tipping point had been reached. It will reach its definitive climax in chapter 15, but it appears from this point that Saul’s rejection is certain.
It need not have been so. Had Saul been obedient, how different things might have been. Would have been, in God’s providence.
Romans 11, of course, strikes a similar note, now of warning to any Gentile believers inclined to be complacent in their new-found status as members of the people of God. But Paul knows about “tipping points”: “For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you” (v. 21). Another kind of “what if”, then, here noted in warning rather than judgment as in the case of Saul.
The root problem in both cases, it seems, is being “wise in your own sight” (Romans 11:25). God grant us the humility to see ourselves as we really are: recipients of grace (cf. Romans 11:6), calling for humble obedience.
Reading with M’Cheyne 