All Things to All Men
Friday (November 14)
All Things to All Men
Psalm 68:5-6
Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation. God settles the solitary in a home; he leads out the prisoners to prosperity.
I recognize that a Scripture like this is especially relevant to those who have suffered as orphans and widows and prisoners in a physical sense, but there is still a remarkable and deeply personal truth that is relevant to all of us. It’s simply this: while God is unchangingly who He is, He is different things to us. To the orphaned, He is a Father. To the widow, He is a Provider. To the outcast, He is a Friend. To the prisoner, He is a Deliverer. God demonstrates His love to each of us by being what each of us needs most of all. Now, that doesn’t imply that He stoops to our idolatries or bends His holiness to accommodate our vices. That is, He doesn’t get drunk with drunkards or swindle with swindlers or sell drugs with drug dealers or gossip with gossipers. But He does condescend to meet us in different ways, pouring out His unfathomable love and mercy through various forms. For one saint today it will be a phone call from an old friend that makes the difference. For another, it will be a check in the mail for the amount needed to pay rent. For another, it might be a weathered sign outside an old country church where a little verse of Scripture speaks the needed word.
This isn’t just a characteristic of Almighty God though; it’s a commission for us as imitators of Him. Consider what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:20-23 (paraphrased): “To the Jews I became a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.”
Christian, revel today in all the unique, personal ways that God has humbled Himself to meet your needs and then go out and be a conduit of that provision for others.