Having read the rest of Chapter 9 it is easy to think that Paul is saying it is all down to God's choice, but that is not what he is saying. Or at least he is not saying that God's sovereign choice is the be all and end all of the matter. For now he talks about the way that Israel pursued the goal.
The Gentiles did not pursue righteousness, yet they found it. The Israelites did pursue it, and with great zeal amongst the religious leaders (Pharisees & Saducees), but they did not find it. The pursuit of righteousness was not the problem, the problem lay with the way that they pursued it. They did so by works, not by faith.
Paul quotes from Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16. Jesus is the foundation stone, but the effect He has on a person can either to be the rock of salvation, or a rock that the person stumbles upon.
Paul will go on to develop this in Chapter 10, but for the time being we can apply the lesson more generally. We may well have the right goals, even the right motives as well, but unless we pursue them by faith we will get nowhere. We need to make sure that we are pursuing God's goals by faith.
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