Genesis 18:25 “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

This whole story of Abraham bargaining with God, so to speak, is one of the most remarkable in the whole Bible. In the first place, there is a level of anthropomorphism of God that flies in the face of all we believe of His divine attributes. Omniscient God certainly didn’t need to go physically to Sodom to check it out! It’s not at all that He didn’t know how many righteous people were in Sodom, it’s that He wanted Abraham to have this interchange and so understand how bad the situation in Sodom really was. David later had a revelation of this side of the character of God, when he wrote in Psalm 18:35, “You stoop down to make me great.” (That is one of the jewels of the NIV translation, in the middle of its various shortcomings.) Of course the ultimate example of this was Jesus being born as a helpless human baby in a barn in Bethlehem. God’s love for mankind is absolutely shocking, because it seems to defy all logic. After all, I don’t even love myself that much! Precisely because it is so extreme, we have to grow in our appreciation of it, having it revealed to our hearts because our minds overload trying to take it all in. This is what Paul was talking about in His pastoral prayers, such as in Ephesians 2:14-21, where he prays we will “know this love that surpasses knowledge.” (Ephesians 2:19) There’s no other explanation for why God would do things as He did with Abraham, because Abraham didn’t have the foundation to understand God any other way.

This is extremely pertinent to me because of the need to tailor my presentation of the Gospel to those who are receiving it. It’s not in the least that the Gospel changes, but I have to express it in ways that can be grasped. As great a blessing as it was to be raised in a home with an extremely high level of Bible knowledge, that makes it difficult even today at times for me to break the Gospel down simply enough for it to be grasped by those who hear it for the first time. I certainly identify with Paul saying, “I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” (1 Corinthians 9:22) I don’t have the wisdom or skill in myself to do that effectively, so I am totally dependent on God by His Spirit. If I will be yielded and obedient, then He will indeed save others through me.

Father, thank You for the opportunities for ministry yesterday, morning and night. They were very different, but You were faithful. Thank You for the opportunity I have this morning. Humanly speaking it’s very challenging, but nothing is too difficult for You. When You appeared as a human figure to Abraham and allowed Him to bargain with You, You will do whatever it takes to get through to the man I’ll be seeing this morning. Help me be fully available but also stay out of the way, so that Your Spirit may take Your Word through me and accomplish Your will, for the blessing of many and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!