THY WORD IS TRUTH

It is a sad word that is written in Isaiah 59. 14, “truth is fallen in the street”. This was true in the day of the prophet; it is true today. Truth is a casualty. Men do not trust each other any more. Why? In other pages, reference has been made to the abandonment of Bible reading, and it must be insisted that this is the cause.

In verse 163, the psalmist makes a positive statement: “I hate and abhor lying: but thy law do I love”. Whoever the writer was, he was convinced that the two do not go together. Love for the Word of God will lead to a hatred of every form of deception and lying. Equally, a love for that which is not trustworthy will result in the setting aside of God’s Word, the Truth.

In verse 128, the writer approaches the matter from the opposite direction: he commences with the Word, “I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right; and I hate every false way”. Here is a man who is prepared to say, “The Word of God is right”, and all things must be judged according to their relation to this Word. What does not agree with it is not truth.

Down through the years, the opinions of men have clashed with the Word of God; scientific discoveries have been heralded abroad in an attempt to prove that the Old Book was wrong. One by one the claims have been discounted and the Word stands triumphant as the Truth.

The Bible is our authority for deciding what is right and what is wrong, in the realm of morals, and indeed in every realm.

One day, a Roman administrator asked sceptically, “What is truth?”, John 18. 38. Standing before him was One who had spoken of Himself as “the truth”, John 14. 6, and afterwards had said to His Father, “thy word is truth”, 17. 17. That Person and that Word can so work in us that the psalmist’s words will become ours, “I hate every false way”. It is through Him (the Truth) and the Word (the Truth) that we can know the meaning of 1 John 4. 6, “Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error”.