In the last post we talked about God’s immutable nature, and then I asked the question, “What does this have to do with us?”
Consider this verse: “Into Your hand I commit my spirit; you have ransomed me, O LORD, God of truth” (Psalm 31:5).
God of truth. Interesting name. So… If God is unchanging, is His truth unchanging? Now I know our culture has little to do with truth. In fact as defined by our culture, truth has more to do with individual opinion or preference, whatever is culturally in vogue. The world sees truth as so intensely personal that you certainly must not seek to influence anyone else with your version of the truth.
So, what kind of truth is God the God of? When you look up the Hebrew word for truth, you discover that it is also translated as faithful. As I said, we as a culture have pretty much jettisoned the truth, but are we willing to jettison faithfulness? I think not.
When someone gives you their word, don’t you want them to be faithful in keeping it? When you exchanged your vows at your wedding, don’t you want your spouse to be faithful to those promises? What about warranties and guarantees? Don’t you want that party to be faithful in keeping to what is in that document, especially if your fridge went ka-blooey?
I don’t think we’re ready to give up on faithfulness. And that’s why we need to hang on to the truth and even proclaim it. For what is faithfulness without truth? And what is truth without faithfulness? They are inextricably entwined in our lives, and more importantly they are indivisibly joined within the nature of God.
Although immutability is not part of our nature, truthfulness and faithfulness are—or at least they should be. So how can we get our culture to at least admit that truth could be bigger than one’s own personal opinion? By being faithful.
Remain faithful to your vows. Remain faithful to your word. Remain faithful to your commitments. You then may have an opportunity to say that you’re not only being faithful, but you’re being truthful. And you may earn an opportunity to explain that you learned these from your Heavenly Father. Because when the world is watching you, it may see Him.
