Word of Encouragement (4/16/2020)
Today, let’s praise God for His truthfulness (which contains the idea of faithfulness as well).
To be true is to be without any falsehood or deceit and therefore trustworthy. We can speak of God’s truthfulness in three aspects:
· God is true in His being. As Bavinck puts it, God is all that He is supposed to be (as in “true gold”), not just in appearance.
· God is true in His expression/communication. “Whoever expresses himself differently from what he thinks, is untrue, a liar…. God’s revelation corresponds exactly to his being” (Bavinck).
· God is true in His knowledge. God knows things as they really are; there is no mistake in His knowledge of Himself, of the world, and of us.
We live in a world that is rampant with false advertisements, self-promotion, half-truths, and spins. Even as we go through a pandemic, we suspect that even this dangerous threat is politicized, causing the people involved to manipulate the facts or withhold important information, etc. We don’t know where to turn to get the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.
How comforting it is to know that God is truthful. This doesn’t mean that we can learn everything we need to know about the COVID 19 virus from the Bible. Nor does it mean that the Bible will tell us what is going to happen to each of us and to our economy, etc. as a result of this pandemic. The Bible is not a science book (although it has much to say about the discipline of science) or a collection of predictions. The Bible’s main concern is with what we are to believe concerning God—including how God has saved us in Jesus Christ—and what duty God requires of us. This is because man does not live by bread alone—how we sustain and extend our life in this world—but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Indeed, what does it profit a man, Jesus asks, to gain the whole world and lose his soul?
The Bible doesn’t tell us everything that will happen to us or to the world but it tells us of our great Shepherd, who will be with us in all areas and situations of our lives, even through the valley of the shadow of death, and who will not fail to bring us to the green pastures and quiet waters of heaven, no matter what happens to us. Because God is true to Himself, whose name is Amen (Truth), His promises are true and He is absolutely trustworthy to fulfill all His promises perfectly and completely. After all, He kept His promise to save His people even when it involved sacrificing His only begotten Son! Let us trust Him completely and praise Him for His truthfulness and faithfulness.