repentance. So why does God harden the hearts of some or leave them in their hardened state? It is so none of us can ever assume our salvation depends on our desires or our effort: “What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory—even us, whom he also called, not only from