I was talking with a friend the other day and he was
lamenting the state of U.S. American politics.
He got me thinking, “Where have the great leaders gone? Where are the Ronald Reagans and JFK’s and
FDR’s? Where have the leaders gone who
had courage, conviction, morals and integrity?
Where are the leaders we could look up to and emulate?”
To be sure there are bright spots out there; men and
women who lead with uprightness. But on
the whole, when I read the news I often end up wondering what people stand for
and if anyone has the courage of their convictions anymore.
Perhaps that’s a bit pessimistic, but I’m not the first
person to feel this way. Psalm 12 is
another psalm of David, and he expresses very similar sentiments about humanity. “The godly one is gone.” “The faithful have vanished.” “Everyone lies.” He sees sycophants and hucksters all around
him.
Words are powerful things, and when people twist them the
truth suffers while others are deceived and abused. There are lips in our generation that boldly state
that God could not have created the earth.
The Bible cannot be true. Jesus did not rise. In the face of such deception God says
through the prophet Isaiah, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who
put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and
sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20 ESV) He will not tolerate the falsehood.
The LORD’s words are
“pure words.” His words are precious and
powerful. They create reality. In the beginning God spoke and the world was
created. His Word does what it
says. Eventually, in the fullness of time,
God would send His Word into the world a whole new way. John 1 tells us, “In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in
the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and
without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life,
and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:1-4 ESV) This Word, we learn is
Jesus who came to save all people by being “lifted up” on the cross, dying in
our place. Before he died He said of
Himself, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” (John 14:6, emphasis added)
Truth matters. As
we speak to each other, having the truth on our lips is actually a testimony of
faith showing that we live by God’s mercy and grace. We don’t need to self-aggrandize. We don’t need to one-up. We can confess when we are wrong. We can admit when we sin. The One who calls Himself, Truth, is our Lord
and Savior, and we live together as his forgiven people. We are all beggars who have received God’s
mercy in Jesus. What do we have to fear
from speaking the truth to one another?
Of course, this also reminds us of the importance of
reading God’s Word, for it is there that He meets us, speaking reality into our
lives. It is there that He tells us that
we are His, that no one can snatch us from His hand, and so many other blessed
truths. We are in the Word because we
are in Christ, and Jesus is the Word made flesh for us. It is here that God keeps and guards us from
this generation forever.
So nothing bad will ever happen to us now that we are in
faith? Of course bad things will happen
to us … in this life. But God guards and
keeps us through this life to bring us to the home Jesus is preparing for us,
where we will live with him in eternal peace.
In the meantime, we are now speakers of God’s Word, so this generation
may believe and be kept in God’s grace forevermore.
Father in heaven,
keep me in true faith. Guard me through
the Word. Help me to know the Truth and
to never be deceived by the lies told by my flesh, this world, and the
devil. Help me believe only You. Amen.
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