Psalm 119:86 – Valid

All your commands are valid,
Yet they persecute me with falsehood.
Help me!

In most translations you will find a word like “truth” describing the commands. I think that “truth” with reference to a command can understood as validity. The commands are fitting, appropriate, and right. I could also change the term in the second line from “falsehood” to “invalidity.”

How does one persecute with falsehood?

Yesterday, discussing verse 85, I discussed made up or misapplied rules. Those ideas could apply here. I suspect the psalmist is talking about the use of rumors, careless and inaccurate reports, and vague accusations. I think people have used these things as long as there have been people. Currently we use the term “disinformation” to talk about stories that are intentionally false in order to pursue some goal of the writer.

But a more common form of falsehood that harms is careless inaccuracy. I see this regularly on social media. People post or repost rumors and those rumors grow and morph as time goes on. It is nearly impossible to root them out, because they fit with someone’s view of the universe. They are used to run down other people or groups.

There are various excuses for the use of falsehood, such as not having time to check, or just posting/repeating to see what people think. But the bottom line is that people’s reputations are harmed and it becomes harder and harder to communicate. We wind up living in fantasy worlds made up of the falsehoods we have absorbed.

It’s easy to deceive ourselves that this is a strictly modern phenomenon, brought about by the presence of the internet. But these sorts of things have been passed on for millennia. The internet and social media have just made them more convenient. Their nature hasn’t changed.

Any time we repeat or post things that are false, we bear false witness against our neighbors. You may be thinking I’m primarily talking about the political landscape, and I am concerned. Fact-oriented exchanges of ideas are of great value. But I’m also greatly concerned with what we do to one another in our churches and in our local communities.

Paul was concerned enough about this to list “gossips” and/or “scandalmongers” in his various famous sin lists. I’m looking at Romans 1;29-30 right now.

But there are verses about this closer to home, i..e. in Psalms and Proverbs. For example:

“Gossip is sharp as a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” (Proverbs 12:18)

“A scoundrel takes up evil gossip; it is like a scorching fire on his lips.” (Proverbs 16:27)

Or the complaint in Psams; “Those who sit by the town gate gossip about me; I am the theme of drunken songs.” (Psalms 69:12)

A good strategy would be to fight falsehood with truth, fight the invalid with valid. Don’t believe and don’t repeat anything you can’t be certain is true and useful.

What can you not repeat today to help make the world a more “valid” place?

(Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)