Truth—is there such a thing?

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TODAY’S SPECIAL: Isaiah 36-38; Psalm 117

TO CHEW ON: “For His merciful kindness is great toward us,
And the truth of the LORD endures forever.” Psalm 117:2

Our reading today contains the shortest chapter in the Bible (Psalm 117). But its subject is neither small nor transitory but vast and eternal: “The truth of the LORD endures forever.” 


The Hebrew word for “truth” is  - emeth: sureness, reliability, stability, continuance, faithfulness. It includes truth as spoken; of testimony and judgment; of divine instruction; truth as a body of ethical or religious knowledge; true doctrine.

The English dictionary’s first three definitions of truth are: 1] The true or actual state of a matter; 2] Conformity with fact or reality; 3] A verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle or the like.

This sounds cut-and-dried. However, truth has come to have a muddied meaning in our culture. We talk about “your truth” and “my truth.” If something seems true to you, it’s your truth, and has as much validity as my truth. Many scorn the possibility of, especially, objective moral truth—something that’s true despite human opinion. (The article “Objective truth is one thing but objective moral truth is another” by J. Warner Wallace discusses this subject.)

The Bible's use of truth, however, would lead us to believe that it exists independent of human opinion and acceptance. Here are some of the facets of truth found just in some Psalms that use the same Hebrew word for truth that's used in our passage.

Truth is:

• Found in God - Psalm 86:15.

• Intrinsic in all of God’s initiatives: the “works of His hands” (Psalm 111:7,8; Psalm 57:10; 85:10,11; 108:4) and his communication (“precepts”) - Psalm 111:7-8.

• Identified with God’s judgments, laws, commandments, and word - Psalm 19:9; 119:142, 151, 160.

• Mankind’s salvation and preservation - Psalm 69:13; 40:10,11.

• Inspiration to worship - Psalm 43:3.

• The subject of human praise - Psalm 71:22; 115:1.In fact, truth evokes praise from  all people on earth - Psalm 117:1,2 (our today’s reading).

• A quality God wants to find within us - Psalm 51:6

• A path we can follow and walk in - Psalm 25:10; 26:3.

• Something we can speak - Psalm 119:43

 Let's make our lives a search for and pursuit of God's truth!

PRAYER: Dear Father, help me to recognize and acknowledge Your truth, and make it the foundation of my life. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 117

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.