While this is primarily designed to show all the posts in my current series of meditations on Psalm 119 one verse at a time, which started in November, 2024, it also includes any other posts that are tagged Psalm 119.

  • Psalm 119:114 – Hope
    By henry • March 17, 2025

    You are my hiding place and my shield,
    In your word I place my hope.

    My meditations went today to the word hope. Hope is important. Hope is easy to lose.

    When the psalmist places his hope in God’s word, he is placing it not just in the law-giving power, but in the creative power that stands behind those laws and makes them real.

    For me, that comes down to the hope that comes from believing that the world is not pure chaos, that there are natural laws and that natural laws lead to many of our moral and ethical laws. We can work with the hope that good actions will tend to produce good results. It’s worthwhile to make an effort.

    In ancient near eastern mythology creation was often symbolized as a fight between chaos and whatever God was credited with establishing order. Order allowed planting and harvesting. It allowed building, growth, and provision for a future. Genesis 1:2 reflects this pattern with darkness over the face of the deep (tehom) and God’s spirit/wind moving above it.

    Then God’s Word comes, and light shines into the darkness. As God continues to speak order is created from the chaos. Because of that chaos, humanity can find a place to live, and grow, and yes, create, as one made in the image of the ultimate Creator.

    We sometimes see grace as working counter to this. We do not reap what we sow, but what another has sown. At the same time, grace speaks the same victory over the chaos, the same offering of potential. The one who planted a garden in Eden and there placed the first man and woman, also provides a way of escape for those caught in the chaos.

    The challenge is to find those small victories over the forces of chaos, to believe they are possible, to reach out for them, and receive them. God provides the hiding place and the shield.

    In the chaos that threatens your life today, remember the Word who has defeated it.

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

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  • Psalm 119:113 – Hate and Love
    By henry • March 16, 2025

    Lawbreakers I hate,
    But your instruction I love!

    Well, now. That’s harsh!

    Commentary on verses uses “hate” and “love” often centers on explaining that these two words don’t always mean the same thing. For example, Malachi 1:2-3 includes the words “Jacob I love, but Esau I hate.” This again sounds pretty harsh, but commentators point out that the Hebrew words “love” and “hate” can mean something like “chosen” and “rejected,” even if that relates to selection for a role.

    That’s sort of correct, as long as people realize that “love” and “hate” in Hebrew also include the emotional preference and a range of meanings. And in case you’re trying to make “hate” too gentle in that particular instance, Malachi 1:4b says “They will be called a country of wickedness, a people with whom the LORD is angry for ever.” This is a fairly energetic form of rejection.

    Sometimes we’re looking for harsh. It brings clarity. The popularity of movies such as the early Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and a number of adventure movies show this by their popularity. What do these movies have in common? There are good guys and bad guys, and we know which is which. We also know that the bad guys lose and the good guys win. We like it to be that way.

    Then reality sets in. A reality in which the good guys and the bad guys overlap and sometimes change places, and we can’t always be sure who wins, at least in the short term.

    One reason we really like fiction that has a clear line between good and evil is that real life doesn’t generally work out that way. We are usually flawed people working with other flawed people and trying to make things work out reasonably well. We often can’t agree on what is good and evil.

    There’s a passage from one of my favorite Science Fiction writers, David Weber, in his book A Rising Thunder. Someone is looking at the difference between shades of gray and black and white (the long, tall niece in the passage sees more black and withe).

    “Well, usually, that’s what it is.” Benton-Ramirez y Chou’s tone was suddenly much more serious. “But sometimes it isn’t, and my long, tall niece here has a point.” He smiled a little sadly at Honor. “Comfortable or not, when those ‘sometimes’ come along, the only coinage history seems willing to accept is our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

    David Weber, A Rising Thunder (ePub Edition), 308.

    And that’s why we like fiction, like many of Weber’s books, where the lines are much more clearly drawn.

    I think it’s important, while recognizing our own faults and failings, to also realize that there are lines that we should not cross, things we should and should not do, and that we should be willing to back those lines with our emotions and actions.

    Sometimes “harsh” is also “true.”

    What lines are you facing? What lines might you need to draw?

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

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  • Psalm 119:112 – I Choose
    By henry • March 15, 2025

    I choose to keep your statutes
    absolutely forever.

    My meditations went in one direction and then I encountered a blog post that tangentially relates to this verse. I want to call attention to that and comment, and then I’ll return to what I was actually meditating on during the day and not just for the last 10 minutes!

    The article is on Crossway, and is titled Do the Psalms Contain Self-Righteous Boasting? (Psalms 7, 17, and 26). The article is extracted from the ESV Expository Commentary, Volume 5. The article bounces a bit off of C. S. Lewis’s book Reflections on the Psalms, amongst other books. The key point is to challenge the idea that some Psalms are self-righteous. I recommend reading the article, but even more reading Lewis’s book.

    I bring this up to point out that there is no reason to assume that all the Psalms reflect perfect, theologically correct ideas. The Psalms tell us about the worship life of Israel, which was no more likely to be perfect in all ways than our own is. I would suggest that the most important error that the Psalms would need to avoid would be giving a false impression of the people who are praying, lamenting, praising, worshiping, and exhorting. I believe one of the greatest blessings of the Psalms is its reality.

    This doesn’t mean we can’t get valid theological points in the Psalms. The Psalms are much quoted in the New Testament, and have been a great blessing to many in different faiths over the years. I believe this value is enhanced by authenticity.

    This is something we should emulate in church leading and teaching. My own pastor comments most weeks about how he has to preach his own sermon to himself before preaching it to the congregation. That’s an attitude that I value, as I know him and I know this isn’t an act. This is what he believes and practices. He tells the congregation where he has failed during the week. This authenticity, rather than weakening the message as some might think, makes it much more effective.

    I think we all have a story in our lives of being falsely accused, and proclaiming our innocence. We like to tell stories of when that innocence was eventually proven. Realizing that we have failures doesn’t mean we can never claim to be right, either in beliefs or in practice. Realizing our failures means we know that we are not always right, and we can be corrected. But it’s quite possible to honestly pray, “Look, Lord, I didn’t do anything to deserve this! Avenge me! Make things right again!”

    Usually by the next morning we may realize that we have done more failing than we imagine, but nonetheless, we may well claim innocence, and claim to be the ones wronged, with some validity.

    And that leads me to what I was actually meditating during the day. No, comments on the number of words I expend on something I only considered for a few minutes are not welcome!!

    This verse states an intention that no human is likely to be able to accomplish. Keeping the whole law is a very difficult, even impossible thing to accomplish. But here’s where I look at perfectionism, and having high goals.

    Perfectionism requires one to try for a goal that is never to be accomplished. “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” There’s a reason for that. Two things often happen to a perfectionist. The first is that, being certain that perfection is required, whether by God or ones own mind, the person simply decides that whatever he does is, in fact, perfect. From that perspective, one can look down on other people, rejecting all possible evidence that one is not superior. That’s one form of self-righteousness.

    Alternatively, one may simply give up on trying at all. If perfection is required and I can’t attain it, why try at all? This results in carelessness and apathy.

    One can also set a goal somewhere between. “I have to be this good, but not perfect for it to be acceptable.” The problem with lowering the standard is that we tend to fall below whatever point to which we have set the standard. Then we keep lowering it to make it possible.

    Whether it is our own psychology at work or our belief in God’s requirements, any of these approaches can be very instructive. Failure to attain the standards we set for ourselves can attack our very identify.

    But both in Israelite religion and in Christianity you have a high standard for living, but at the same time the recognition that attaining this is not humanly possible. Even when he did not attain to perfection in keeping the law, the Israelite knew that he was still one of God’s people, God’s chosen. That was who he was.

    Now if you determine to keep God’s statutes forever, and plan to do it on your own, and judge yourself by your success at this enterprise, things will not go well. But once you find your identity in belonging to God, something which cannot be lost through your failures, you can make a determination, and keep right on pressing on the upward way.

    After all, as this Psalm concludes in verse 176, “I have one astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant ….” Then you can confidently determine again to stay on the path. God’s got it. God’s going to get you in the end!

    What should you determine to do today? What failures should you put behind you?

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI. I particularly like the fact that it looks like the guy isn’t really connected to the mountain he’s climbing and should at any moment be falling with nothing to stop him.)

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  • Psalm 119:111 – Inherited Testimony
    By henry • March 14, 2025

    I have inherited your testimonies forever,
    for they are my heart’s joy.

    This is a very rich text, getting a great deal into a few words. But my meditations took a path that would have surprised me when I first took a look at this today.

    When I read this, my focus was on forever, and then I thought of the history of God’s testimonies and how I, as a Christian can claim them. One critical element, I believe, is claiming God’s heritage without denying it to those who first received it. This is a matter of attitude. It is also a matter of reading scripture. The theme of “blessed to be a blessing,” not to mention numerous texts in 2nd Isaiah (chapters 40-55) tell me that God’s blessing is not intended as a possession in the exclusive sense. At the same time, if I receive a blessing because of someone else’s efforts, it is rude of me not to acknowledge those who received it and transmitted it.

    That is, after all, how “testimony” works. One tells another, and the testimony is passed on. Psalm 78:1-8 (and the rest of the Psalm) is a powerful example of this, citing four generations of passing on the wonderful works of the LORD.

    I was in a study group the other night, and mentioned some of the things I remembered my parents doing that had formed my own faith. One of the members commented that it was frightening to think that 40 years from now someone might be mentioning the impact his parenting had on his children. It’s worth considering.

    But there’s another point. What if you fail to acknowledge those who have passed on faith, good habits, knowledge, and experience, and pretend that you did it all yourself? My parents made sacrifices so that I could be the person I became. They gave me that opportunity.

    I can read the Psalms because people in Israel recorded and preserved the text. But beyond that, I can enjoy the Psalms because Israelites, and then Jews, experienced life, often difficult life, and recorded their thoughts and their walk. They left something for their children, but also for the entire world. I need to acknowledge that.

    This heritage of knowledge, faith, and life experience is not a limited commodity. It’s not an economic good. It’s not in short supply. Unless. Critical unless. Unless we fail to acknowledge it and pass it on.

    So tonight I’m thankful to many in Israel and Judah, and Jews dispersed through the world, for the preservation of the history of faith from which so many can benefit. Often in the face of death, they held on, they kept the record, and provided an example to all.

    It’s your heritage forever. Thank you for telling me about it.

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)

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  • Psalm 119:110 – Trap
    By henry • March 13, 2025

    The wicked have set a trap for me,
    but I have not veered from your precepts.

    A couple of famous Bible stories come to mind as I read this. The first is Samson and Delilah. Over and over she begs him for the secret of his strength, and each time she invites his enemies to attack. One wonders why Samson never figures out that it isn’t a good idea to tell her. Or perhaps he always knew it wasn’t a good idea, but let himself get led astray.

    The story, as odd as it may seem, deals with human nature. I mention frequently on my computer services blog that computer hacking is rarely like it’s presented in the movies. It’s usually based on human engineering. Early in my business I went to an office to repair a computer. When I got there I was pointed to the computer and the user went into another room. I sat down and got to work. I was nearly done when she got back.

    Suddenly she said, “Oh! I forgot to give you my password!”

    “I’m almost done,” I replied.

    “How?” she asked.

    I pointed at the sticky note on the wall just to the right of her monitor on which the password was prominently written. That surprised her a bit, but did not surprise me. It’s human nature. We talk about wanting security, but what we really want is convenience. We don’t want to go to the trouble of looking up our password in a book or in an encrypted file. So we take a shortcut.

    This leads me to an attack form called an “MFA Fatigue Attack.” When I first heard that name, I immediately loved it. It so speaks to the human nature issue. “MFA” is multi-factor authentication. Many of you will have been pressured to apply MFA to various of your accounts. I sincerely hope you have given in to this pressure, as it’s an important improvement in your security.

    But there’s a trick that the bad guys play, which is to ask you, often in a text, for your MFA code. Most people will ignore this request or refuse it the first time. But if the attacker keeps going, some users will give in from fatigue and send the code. Then the attacker can get into the account.

    This is a perfect example of the sort of thing that could be a trap in your life. You are asked over and over to do something. You know better, but just to get everyone to shut up, you go along. Usually it’s a bad idea. But you do it anyhow.

    The wicked (or just mischievous!) set a trap for you and you did veer from the proper path.

    Sometimes the consequences are severe.

    The other story this immediately reminded me of was Daniel 6, where officials in Babylon set a trap for Daniel. This one is more straightforward. Rather than wearing Daniel down over time, these officials took the head-on approach. They contrived to get a decree that would require Daniel to violate his commitment to his God.

    It’s worth noticing the trap that was set for Darius. That was an oblique attack, leveraging his pride and desire to be thought well of, indeed worshiped, to get him to make a decree that he might otherwise have realized was a bad idea.

    Daniel does not fall into the trap. He sticks to his path. The lions’ dinner is delayed and Daniel freed.

    It’s worth thinking about both kinds of trap. The confrontation that challenges our courage, or the “fatigue” trap which tests our focus and endurance.

    Be alert for all those traps!

    (Featured image credit: Delilah, betrayed Samson by revealing the secret of his strength to the Philistines for money By Daniel. Licensed from Adobe Stock.)

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  • Psalm 119:109 – Risky
    By henry • March 12, 2025

    My life is in my hands continually,
    yet I do not forget your instruction.

    What I’d like to say, and first thought about saying was that it might be better to say, “My life is in my hands, so I don’t forget that you, God, are in charge.”

    The fact is, however, that we need to remember God’s instruction(s). I want to emphasize, as always, that it is not on the basis of keeping up with God’s instructions that we become part of the family of God. But we have a need to make good decisions at all times, and the time when we are most likely to forget what we have learned from God’s instructions is when we are most at risk.

    This morning, Jody had a problem with her heart. It scared me. I got very tense. I had a hard time making decisions. I forgot to pray. Part of the time I forgot to think. And it wasn’t even one of the worst moments we’ve had over the last few years. Talking to a few people helped me settle down. Praying helped settle me down. (I frequently note that prayer is much more about changing me than about changing my circumstances.)

    Now Jody is fine, though I’m still a bit nervous. But it was precisely during that time when I’m watching numbers related to her health and thinking they’re not going where they’re supposed to that I need to remember God’s instructions.

    Now you may be wondering where in the Bible I find something about how to deal with pulse rates, blood oxygen, blood pressure, and such things. No, there is not a book of “Cardiac Care.” The idea is to find a way of thinking, a way in which I can process problems. I then need to apply that way of thinking to various problems.

    We talk a lot about breaking bad habits. I think we need to talk more about developing good habits. Good habits set you up to do the right thing when the wrong thing happens.

    I recall reading in Jacob Milgrom’s 3 volume (2200 pages!) commentary on Leviticus, that the Torah has clearly been written as a teaching tool. (I paraphrase from memory.) I didn’t really understand that until I took a group of Christian young people to visit a Synagogue for their Religious Education, which was on Sunday morning. A Rabbi talked to the young people I had brought together with theirs.

    On this occasion, he chose to talk about the command that is found in Exodus 34:26(b) and elsewhere, “You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.” This refers, of course to a baby goat. Not quite as astonishing. But yet you may ask why such a law would exist.

    Well, in Judaism, the Rabbi told us, this was where the rules on eating meat and dairy products together came from. The young people were generally mystified. What good is this rule? Why should anyone keep such a law? What’s the purpose?

    The Rabbi explained that this is a rule that tells us we have a choice in what we do. We are not subject to our passions in all things. We can choose to live one way and not another. I deduce that you put this rule into practice in order to become accustomed to doing things according to rules, that you have a habit of following rules.

    I think that’s the point of remembering God’s Torah, or instruction. When it becomes a question of life or death, when decisions are coming at you faster than you can handle them, when you don’t know the way out you have a way in which you think of things.

    I was discussing a decision with a friend some years ago, looking at two courses of action. Both appeared acceptable, but I was uncertain which one to take. Then ethics took hold and I suddenly saw that one of the courses of action would likely lead to things I knew were wrong. I hadn’t seen certain consequences. Suddenly I knew. Only one choice was in accordance with God’s instruction.

    What instruction from God will guide you at a moment of decision?

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  • Psalm 119:108 – A Freewill Offering
    By henry • March 11, 2025

    Accept with pleasure the freewill offering of my mouth, LORD,
    and teach me your judgments.

    Most translations treat the “freewill offering of my mouth” as praise, though I note that the LXX translates it quite literary as “voluntary [gift] of my mouth.” I don’t say this is wrong. In fact, Psalm 119 itself can be seen as an offering of praise, offering thanks and praise to God for the various aspects of God’s word and law.

    But I think that a freewill offering of our mouths, and specifically what comes out of our mouths may be more than that. I’ve heard any number of preachers say that we’re willing to surrender everything to God, but we stop when it comes to our wallets. I think we stop before offering our speech, and by extension what we type, to God.

    Is everything you write the sort of thing you would think was good and left a positive record. I don’t refer to the vigorous presentation of opinions that are important to you. There are those who consider any sort of firm opinion as impolite. I’m not talking about firm. I’m not talking about strongly expressed. I’m talking about things we say that are harmful.

    • A group of church members in a Sunday School class run down their own church to a visitor
    • Mistaking the speaker for the day for a visitor, rather than a new member, a church member makes a litany of complaints about “this church” to which the visitor would surely not want to belong
    • A member of the church staff complains about other staff members in the hearing of people who are not responsible for dealing with staff issues
    • A shopper is rude to the person manning the checkout lane because they are in a hurry and mildly inconvenienced
    • A driver flips the bird at another driver whose driving skills are suboptimal
    • A parent yells at a child instead of correcting them firmly but kindly
    • We speak as if our disagreements in any area make another person less worthy of respect as a human being, created in the image of God
    • Because we believe someone is sinful, we fail to respect their full personhood as human beings and God’s children

    In 1 John 4 we read:

    Beloved, let us love one another,
    for love comes from God,
    and everyone who loves has been born of God
    and knows God.
    The one of does not love does not know God,
    because God is love.

    If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For the one who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen is not able to love God, whom he has not seen.

    1 John 4:7-8,20, my translation

    Now how did I get to loving God and our fellow humans from a freewill offering from our mouth?

    I believe that lips expressing love will be giving the right kind of freewill offering, because God is love, and our love for God is shown by our love for one another. That offering will be determined by what is in your heart, “because out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Luke 6:45, my translation).

    What is going to come out of your mouth today?

    (Featured image credit: By Wattana, licensed from Adobe Stock.)

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  • Psalm 119:106 – Determination
    By henry • March 9, 2025

    I have sworn and I will uphold it
    that I will keep your righteous judgments.

    Not everything in scripture is something you ought to do. Even if it’s written by a good person.

    Let’s consider for a moment Jephthah’s oath as he heads off to battle with the Ammonites. You’ll find the whole story in Judges 11. He promises to offer the first creature that comes out to meet him when he comes home as a whole offering to the Lord (verse 31). When he returns, he is first met by his daughter, his only child (vv. 34-35). It is possible that you shouldn’t follow the example of this rash oath.

    On the other hand, you might think a rash oath, or asking for a sign, or various similar things are always wrong. Then there’s the story of Abraham’s servant who was looking for a wife for Isaac. He asked for a sign in a way that I might question, but the Lord honored his request for that sign (Genesis 24:10-27).

    Now you might think I’m preparing to say that this verse represents a bad idea that we shouldn’t follow. How can a Christian who believes in grace and rejects any form of salvation by works accept a statement such as this. Shouldn’t I be finding a way around it?

    I do actually have a way around “it,” if by “it” you mean that this verse means our eternal salvation is tied to our ability to keep an oath such as this. But in this life we still live in a world in which you reap what you sow, and that’s if you’re fortunate or blessed. Frequently, you’re reaping what someone else has sown. I heard a tragic story today of a young man killed by a drunk driver. The driver sowed and the young man reaped.

    Grace, and with it the love of God and the fact that God views us as his children, tells me that we remain children of God, that God loves us and is near to us when things go terribly wrong, and we remain God’s children. Grace hasn’t abrogated the law of sowing and reaping. What it has done is tell us we remain in Christ. We belong to God.

    It’s a good thing to make choices. It’s a good thing to determine to do right, or just to do better than we have on something. Every morning I have a list of things I’m going to try to get done. My life right now is very unkind to schedules. I can’t really change that. So when I make a mental list of things I’m going to try to do, I know that I’m very likely not to have the time I am hoping for. But I don’t know that. So I try.

    If I got up in the morning and said, “I’m going to be interrupted so many times today that I won’t get anything done, so I might as well just not bother,” I’d get much less done than I do. The determination is important, even knowing that it’s not going to be fulfilled.

    Why don’t I leave some things off, so that I can feel better at the end of the day with more of my list checked off? Or maybe all checked off?

    Because as soon as I take my eye off the goal, I start falling back. I determine to do what might be possible of all goes well. When reality intervenes, I recognize reality and readjust the list. Well, that’s another determination. I determine to recognize reality, and that based on interruptions, I have to adjust. Accomplishing that is hard. I want all that stuff done.

    The psalmist is expressing his determination. He’s promising to do. Somewhere along the line, he, like the rest of us, likely didn’t keep up with that.

    When that sort of thing happens to you, you have two options. You can pick yourself back up and keep your eyes on the prize, no matter how distant it is, or you can be discouraged and decide not to bother. You can decide to bring the goal down to your level.

    The psalmist is giving an example of aiming high. He has an answer for those bad moments to. Spoiler alert! He ends the Psalm by saying he has gone astray like a lost sheep and asking God to seek him. That’s a knowledge of God’s grace.

    What will you make your goal today? When life intervenes, will you remember the God who seeks you?

    (Featured image credit: ID 337125867 | Ambulance Accident Scene ©
    Yaroslaf | Dreamstime.com)

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  • Psalm 119:105 – Light
    By henry • March 8, 2025

    A lamp for my feet is your word,
    and a light for my path.

    This text begins the next eight verse section of Psalm 119. We’ve been looking at the value of God’s Word throughout the Psalm, but especially in the last several verses. This verse is well-known and evokes many other verses from scripture.

    We can start in Genesis 1:3 – And God said, “Let there be light, and there was light.” The chaos of the deep covered by darkness is captured by the light. The light is brought when God speaks, a physical manifestation of God’s Word. God’s Word is found in the Bible, but it is much, much more than that. Psalm 104:1b-2 describes this light as covering.

    Exodus 13:21 ties these elements together as God goes before the people as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night providing guidance no matter what the state of the natural light. Light thus evokes both God’s creative and God’s guiding power.

    Jesus picks up this theme when in John 8:12 he says that he is the light of the world. Anyone who follows him will not walk in darkness. This also connects the light (light of life) back to the Word, which is the subject of our text today, as well as of the entire Psalm. God’s Word is more than words on paper, it is “alive and active” and represented in the person of Jesus and in the presence of Jesus in the world through his church.

    This takes us to Matthew 5:14: “You are the light of the world.” The light stretches from creation to divine guidance for God’s people, to God’s people providing that light. I connect this with the principle of God’s blessing, expressed in Genesis 12:2 – “I will bless you … so you will be a blessing.” We receive light to be light.

    How then are we to react to the works of darkness?

    With the proclamation of the light! By sharing the connection to the guidance God has given us. Let me translate me from my own poetic paraphrase of Isaiah 58. This selection begins in verse 11:

    God will guide you continually,
    satisfying your needs in the wilderness.
    God will strengthen your bones.
    You will be like a watered garden,
    like a water spring,
    one flowing year-round.

    You’ll rebuild old, despairing ruins;
    You’ll restore ancient, strong foundations.
    You’ll be called the one who repairs broken walls
    and restores streets lined with homes.

    Henry Neufeld, “Psalm 58 – A Slightly Poetic Paraphrase” – The Jevlir Caravansary

    Where will you spread light in the darkness today?

    (Featured image generated in Adobe Express [which uses Adobe Firefly] according to my description.)

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  • Psalm 119:104 – Truth Matters
    By henry • March 7, 2025

    From your precepts I improve my understanding.
    Therefore I hate every false path.

    It’s time to underline the difference between these meditations and exegesis. I study the verse first, looking at precisely what it says, and then I meditate on where that can lead me through the day. Sometimes that meditation leads me to other scripture, but often it leads me to other sources of knowledge and current events..

    In this case, the verse is really making a simple, straightforward contrast. There is a way defined by God’s precepts, and then there are alternatives. The psalmist accepts the wisdom that comes from God through those precepts. He rejects what does not. It is important to remember the breadth of what he sees in God’s law.

    But the direction my thinking took was this: How important is a firm commitment to truth? Now you can see how the verse suggests the topic for my meditation, but it doesn’t examine the details. It just lays out a contrast.

    In our postmodern world we have a tendency to say “in our postmodern world” a lot. Not necessarily in those words. We say it in a variety of words. “These young people are not like we were when we were young.” “In the good old days….” “It’s just getting so you can’t trust anyone any more.”

    One of these claims is that media, such as the internet and social media especially, have somehow made us less concerned with truth. The variety and volume of assorted voices makes it impossible to determine what is true and what is not. Falsehood and disinformation are entirely recent phenomena.

    We need to learn to hate every false way. Here are some examples.

    • I just don’t know what to believe. There have always been those who just don’t know what to believe. There have also been those who tended to believe convenient lies just because they were too lazy to seek out the truth, or they were afraid they wouldn’t like the truth. In the “good old days” you’d have to go to the library and consult an encyclopedia. Now, despite the multitude of voices, it’s quite possible to find information quickly. You have to want to find that information. You have to care. You have to be ready to spend the necessary time. If you don’t know, don’t blame others. Failing to take responsibility for your own beliefs is an excuse, and it’s one you can’t afford.
    • There are so many voices. Yes, there are many voices and many sources of misinformation. There are also, however, many sources of truth. Face it, most people who don’t bother to check on the truth of material on the internet wouldn’t have checked the gossip about their next door neighbor before believing it and passing it on. The problem isn’t the number of voices. It’s a refusal to be responsible and to take responsibility for what goes into your mind and what comes out of your mouth.
    • All of my friends believe it. This has been the tribal thing for years. We don’t want to differ from the people around us. When we do differ, we want to do it with a group behind us who will shout the other side down. It doesn’t matter what your friends believe. What matters is what they can support. If they can’t deal with disagreement, find better friends.
    • There are so many important issues! I have to take a stand! Yes, take a stand, but take a stand on what you’re going to regard as important, specifically important enough for you to express an opinion. There is a false standard that suggests you have to have and express an opinion on every topic. You don’t. You can choose your battles. As a publisher, I have a great option here. I can point people to an author I publish who provides a better discussion of a topic than I believe I could. Choose your ground and stand on that. Don’t allow anyone to force you to stand on theirs.
    • It’s not important what I believe, so why bother! You might think from the previous point that I think this. I do not. It is very important what you believe. That’s why you should choose carefully what you choose to debate. You should be sure you’re expressing something you can support as truth. I don’t mean you always need to be right. We will all make mistakes. But care in what we express and how we express it is important. Blathering on every topic even when we don’t have the needed knowledge is a very dangerous false way.
    • Confusing our opinion with the truth. This is a very common false way in Bible study. People present their view of the Bible or of a theological issue as though their interpretation is the very word of God and any who disagree are disagreeing with God. You and I are not the writers of scripture. We are not God’s special messengers blessed with infallibility. It is not humility to say, “This is just what the Bible teaches.” It’s dangerous arrogance. Let each person be taught by God. Show your work and speak in such a way that others can follow the steps and decide for themselves.
    • Fear of sources of knowledge. There are those who are afraid to look outside the Bible for their information. That is fear. It may sound godly, but it is not. There are those who find a human source of knowledge and then stick with it no matter what, because they are afraid of being confused. That is letting fear guide you. Hearing more than one viewpoint is part of checking the view you already have or building a new one.

    God speaks in many ways. Humans learn in many ways. Take control of what you take in. Take control of what you let out of your mouth or send through your keyboard.

    In loving truth and hating falsehood what will you speak today? On what will you keep silent?

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