The second part of verse 4 says, “His truth and His faithfulness are a shield and a buckler.”
Remember the game show, “To Tell The Truth.” For those of you who are younger, the show consisted of 3 people who all pretended be the same person—someone who had accomplished something unique or interesting. Of course, only one of those 3 was the real deal. There was a panel of 4 celebrities who’s job it was to ask questions and try to determine who the real person was, and who were the remaining imposters. The imposters not only had to be knowledgeable about the real person’s life, but they also had to answer the panel’s questions in a way that would convince them that they were the real person. They had to “lie” well. The show was a good test of one’s discernment—who was lying vs. who was telling the truth.
Concerning the Word or God’s Truth, we need to know it in order to discern what are lies, and because its the truth that we know that will make us free. Lies we believe keep us in prison. Truth that we know sets us free. So the more truth we know the freer we become.
Do you know what a “plumb-line” is? A plumb-line is a simple but accurate tool used since ancient times, including Jesus’ day, that consists of a small, heavy object attached to a string or rope that is used especially to see if something (such as a wall) is perfectly vertical or upright. God’s Word, the Truth, acts as a plumb-line. We can measure anything against it for its veracity, or rightness, to see if something is corrupt and evil or true and right, including and especially in our own lives.
We not only need to know what is Biblical truth/God’s truth, we must keep our focus there and not allow this world and it’s happenings and the deception and lies that surround us to pull us off our foundation—away from the plumb-line. In my own life, in an effort to focus on the Truth and not on the bad things, I’ve probably been a bit like the ostrich….prone to stick my head in the sand concerning world events. However, with the way things have been going in this world, I think it’s next to impossible to do that anymore. I mean the moment you bring your head up for a breath of air, you’re hit smack in the eyes with bombings, shootings, fires, earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, corruption, scandals, lies. We can certainly get off balance by information overload from the TV, internet and social media as well.
Many places in scripture we are warned not to be deceived or misled. 2 Timothy 3 describes a sad picture of what will happen to people without Christ, without the Truth, in the last days. In case you didn’t know this, we are living in those days.
…”But wicked men and imposters will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and leading astray others and being deceived and led astray themselves”.
Deception has been around since the Garden of Eden. Satan is the father of all lies. He is the great deceiver. And since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, when Eve was deceived by the lies of the enemy, and Adam didn’t take his stand on the truth, but followed Eve instead, evil entered and things started a downward spiral. Over thousands of years, with the influence of Satan in this fallen world, men who have believed his lies have become wicked and imposters, but what this says is that in the last days there will be a progression of from BAD to WORSE.
I’m not trying to be negative or a downer here, so why am I bringing up this sad state of affairs? Because you and I need to be aware of the time period we are living in…the age we have been appointed by God to live in. We’re living in a time when the world around us is going from bad to worse. We can’t be ignorant. We can’t bury our heads in the sand. There are people out there that believe their own lies and subtly spread them. Computers and internet provide a way to spread lies and deception. Yes, they are also used to spread the Truth, but right now the subject is deception. We are also living in an age where information has increased greatly, and with that also comes an increase for potential deception. We need to know these things, BUT, more than anything, we need to know the TRUTH and grow in that TRUTH so we can detect the false, the lie, the counterfeit, the fake, the deception.
Back to the show To Tell the Truth. The celebrity panel that asked the questions needed to know the truth about the subject so they could ask detailed questions that the imposters might not know the answer to. Asking the right questions helped them figure out who was real and who were the fakes. They had to know the subject better than the imposters.
Years ago my husband told me that a person who is trained to detect counterfeit money spends most of their time learning what the real stuff looks like so they can detect a counterfeit. I don’t know about you, but that just makes plain sense to me. Study the real so when a counterfeit shows up, it stands out as a fake. Be aware there are wicked people, imposters, posers, deceivers who believe their own stuff and spread their lies, BUT, learn the Truth so you can detect a lie, recognize an imposter, and as 2 Tim 3:14 continue to hold to the things we learned and are convinced that are the truth.
Be aware that we have a spiritual enemy of our souls (our mind and will and emotions) who tries to plant his lies in our thoughts to cause our emotions and choices to yield to his plan. Study and learn what Jesus did for us; who we are now and what is ours because we are children of God living in His Kingdom with the life of Jesus working inside us through His ever present Holy Spirit. Let’s keep our focus on that. Feed on this truth. God, Himself, is with us. He never leaves. He helps when we call out. He answers when we ask. Then when the enemy tries to plant his lies in our thoughts we can answer him with the Truth.
Hey. If you don’t getting anything else out of this, get this. Concerning this bad to worse deal. Here’s what our Father is speaking to us, His children, His body, His church:
Arise, my people! Let your light shine for all the nations to see! For the glory of the Lord is streaming from you. Darkness as black as night shall cover all the peoples of the earth, but the glory of the Lord will shine from you. Isaiah 60:1-2
Next time we’ll take a look at the word TRUTH. In the meantime you might enjoy watching a YouTube video of the show “To Tell The Truth.” See if you can guess who is the man inside the Big Bird costume on Sesame Street. Go here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkT_e72P_IM
To be continued….peace to you and your family.
