Thy Word Is Truth
You'll be disappointed in my not beginning this article with reference to Pilate's question, "What is truth?" (Jn.18: 38), but I'm not going to mention it. Instead I'll let that remind you that there are devious ways to shade, warp, and avoid truth. As one country philosopher put it, "I'd tell the truth five or six different ways before I'd tell a lie." There may be times when silence is more in order than speaking the truth (Jn.19: 9), if the silence itself is not deceptive. But when truth must be spoken, it should be forthright, plainly stated, the product of an honest heart. There are few things more needful in our present society than genuine honesty.
We have lied to ourselves, that we know the truth, until we have crippled our hope of learning truth. Or, we have convinced ourselves (another lie) that there is no certain truth, so that even faith becomes a leap in the dark, an essential to avoid despair. Or maybe truth (?) is treated subjectively, every man to himself. We know that truth in the material universe is not so vacillating: 2 + 2 = 4 to all men; but God is different.
Is He, as respects truth? His manifestations are history, occurrences in time and space. Jesus lived, "approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know" (Acts 2:22). He died on a cross: attested by the same sort of records that tell us all past events. And the tomb was empty on the third day following, despite the Roman Empire's efforts to seal it. His enemies could not produce the body on Pentecost, when to have done so would have cut the heart out of the message they despised. His followers did not deny His resurrection, though their steadfastness offered no earthly gain, and resulted in horrible deaths. They testified instead that HE LIVES. And their message was accompanied by many "signs, wonders, divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost" which, unlike "feel better" claims of our day, convinced experts of deception (Acts 8:9-24; 19:11-20).
We can not know God, but we believe as the result of an objective approach to evidence. We accept as TRUE the message of His ambassadors because they demonstrated the source of their news to be Divine. Yes, many professed followers have not determined these matters for themselves; their faith is not well founded. But it need not be so.
TRUTH is available for the seeker! "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth" (Jn. 17:17.