Desiring Truth

Psalm 51:6
Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts,
And in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom.

God desires us to be completely truthful to Him so that He can teach us godly wisdom. But in the secret chambers of our hearts, unseen by man but known only to God, we are capable of deluding and deceiving ourselves and others.

David wrote Psalm 51 when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. He had tried to cover his sins of adultery and murder by putting on a false front to mislead and deceive others.

But God spoke through His prophet directly and deeply into David's heart. God desires truth in the inward parts. Not attained or acquired by ritualistic or religious ways, God desires us to sincerely humble ourselves, pray and seek His face earnestly, and turn from our wicked ways.

When we truly humble ourselves and repent of our sins, God will create in us a clean heart and remove all the filthiness therein. When our inward hearts are pure again, our guilty conscience will be cleared and acquitted, and our thoughts will now be ready to understand and know godly wisdom which begins with the fear of God.

Psalm 111:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
A good understanding have all those who do His commandments.
His praise endures forever.

Proverbs 1:7
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
But fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 9:10
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.

In nearly all the wisdom we possess, there are basically two portions - the knowledge of God and the knowledge of ourselves. It is not easy to discern which one precedes and brings forth the other. All our godly wisdom is wrapped up in knowing God and ourselves. As this twofold knowledge is closely knitted and intertwined, we cannot have one without the other, and we cannot tell which one comes first.

Jeremiah 17:9-10
9 The heart is deceitful above all things,
And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?
10 I, the LORD, search the heart,
I test the mind,
Even to give every man according to his ways,
According to the fruit of his doings.

Knowing ourselves is a difficult thing as we don’t always delight to know the truth especially in the inward and hidden parts of our hearts. It is like going to a dentist who will expose some decays and drill out the rotten areas before cleaning and filling the teeth. Before building and planting can take place, rooting out, pulling down, destroying and throwing away must be carried out first. Thus who on earth desires to go for a dental examination?

Jeremiah 1:10
See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms,
To root out and to pull down,
To destroy and to throw down,
To build and to plant.

Similarly, most of us do not desire to be truthful as the truth always hurts, and demands some corrective actions to change our hearts in order to restore our relationship back with God.

Matthew 7:3-5
3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?
5 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

We like to observe others and point out their faults but we often fail to examine ourselves. We habitually choose to remain ignorant of ourselves and our own faults. Self-knowledge and self-evaluation can be painful at times. As a result, we prefer to embrace and enjoy the pleasures of delusions and illusions, deceiving ourselves.

We try to be wise in our own eyes but it is just our foolish pride in disguise. Our pride is anything but wise. We tend to seek our selfish interests instead of God’s. We control and manipulate the perception of others for our selfish motives and interests. By employing deceptions and delusions, we gain self-advancement, self-exaltation, self-promotion and self-protection so that others will continue to esteem us highly, accept and respect us!

Instead of truth, our foolish pride prefers falsehood. In doing so, we continue to be bound and trapped. If we continue to do so, it will eventually lead us to a path of devastation and destruction. But God desires truth in our inmost beings, because His truth will make us free.

John 8:32
And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. David knew both the blessedness of truth and the wretchedness of falsehood.

Psalm 32:1-6
1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered.
2 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no deceit.
3 When I kept silent, my bones grew old
Through my groaning all the day long.
4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;
My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Selah
5 I acknowledged my sin to You,
And my iniquity I have not hidden.
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,”
And You forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
6 For this cause everyone who is godly shall pray to You
In a time when You may be found;
Surely in a flood of great waters
They shall not come near him.

David shared about the happiness of those whose sins had been forgiven, and also the joys of the transgressors when they were pardoned by God! Those who had confessed their sins would find relief and freedom as God cleared their guilt-ridden records.

There was a time when David would not admit that he was a sinner. But this behavior and conduct made him miserable and filled his days with frustration and dissatisfaction. All day and all night the hand of God was heavy on him. His strength evaporated like water on a sunny day until he finally admitted all his sins to the LORD, and stopped trying to hide them.

David confessed his wrongdoings to the LORD, and He forgave him! All his shames and sins were gone. When David was untruthful to God and men, his bones seemed to be wasting away. When he came clean with God and men, health and refreshment returned to his soul.

Therefore, each believer should confess his sins to God when he is aware of them, while there is still time to be forgiven. God desires us to have health and refreshment for our souls. When we are not living in truth, God will show us His mercy and grace by resting His hand heavy upon us. Unless we acknowledge His dealings with us and confess our wrongdoings, our souls will somehow become weary and heavily burdened.

The longer we walk with Him, the more He will require us to live truthfully before Him. He desires truth to reign in every part of us so that we can enjoy fullness and freedom in knowing Him! We can never really know God until we are willing to be truthful with Him.

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

Jesus is the Truth! That's our basis for truth! What is honest may not necessarily be the truth. Honesty is subjected to one’s own beliefs. But one’s own beliefs might not necessarily be true. Thus it is possible for us to be honest and wrong at the same time. Some honestly held beliefs may be wrong. For example, atheists honestly believe there is no God; and evolutionists honestly believe in the theory of evolution. Many people support and teach their ideas, convinced they are correct. But they may well be wrong. An honestly held idea does not make it right. And the beliefs of the multitudes may also be wrong.

Truth must be based on the Word of God. Jesus is the Truth. We are made by God to live a life of integrity and righteousness so that our inner beings are aligned with our outer beings. It is not about what we see or feel or what others say.

We are now living in a world filled with fake news. These deliberate misinformation or hoaxes spread like wild fires through online social media and even newspapers and TV broadcasts. These fake news are written and published with the intent to mislead people so as to gain financially or politically, often using sensational, dishonest, or fabricated stories and headlines to increase readership, online sharing, and internet click revenue.

Similarly, false teachings abound inside the churches! And many Christians are honestly wrong in their knowledge of God and His Word. Many do not know God. Many are not strong to carry out great exploits for the Lord. Many do not know their Bibles. Many just believe what others say. Many do not diligently check whether the teachings are true according to the Bible.

Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life. We cannot truly know the Truth if we do not know Jesus personally. He is the Word of God! We cannot piggyback on others; riding on their faiths, beliefs, opinions, teachings and worldviews. We must come to the Father through Jesus Christ His Son! We must walk in the Way ourselves! We must know the Truth ourselves! We must live the Life ourselves!

One thing is common in fake news and false teachings. They are both sensational; always appealing to our feelings, intellects, minds and emotions! Without knowing ourselves, it is not easy to know God. We will not have a true knowledge of who God really is. It is possible for us to go through life without ever taking a close examination of ourselves in the light of God’s Word or in the light of His divine love. An unexamined Christian life is certainly not a reliable or dependable one!

Psalm 139:23-24
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.

We are incapable of truly knowing ourselves. Only God, who searches our innermost beings and hearts, knows us. Only He can show us who we truly are. Let God examine us and know our minds. Let Him test us and consider our thoughts and ways. Let Him remove any evil and wickedness in us. Let Him guide us in His everlasting way.

In understanding God’s character and His love, we will begin to know more about ourselves. In understanding more about ourselves truthfully, we will then understand God more. He will help us to grow in godly wisdom as we fear Him more each day through holy reverence and respect.

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

2 Timothy 2:15
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

The Word of God is living and powerful. It is very sharp, cutting swiftly and deeply into our innermost thoughts and desires, exposing us for what we really are. We need to know what His Word says and means. We need to be diligent in studying the Word of God ourselves before God approves us and says, “Well done.” We do not need to be ashamed when God examines our works and our hearts.

There are always two sides of us. One is spiritual, and the other is carnal. One does the things that please God, and the other does the things that don't. Standing back to back, who is the strong one in our last act? In every path we take and every road we travel, every choice we make will take us to a dividing line between patches of light and darkness in us. Unless we have the Word of God in our hearts, we will not be able to discern and choose properly.

Psalm 119:11
Your word I have hidden in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.

Only the Word of God will lead us to the Way, the Truth and the Life. Only the Word of God will keep us from sinning against God. And the Word of God is the Truth!

Hopefully we will desire the Truth, and not opt for something else.


Written on: 29 May 2018