Day 1983 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Isaiah 59:15 NIV

Another one of those verses that still holds such a powerful truth all these years later. I’ve found myself wondering a lot here lately about what God’s thinking about all that’s going on. I mean, He knows what’s going on, but what He thinks about how we’re responding to it. I can’t help but imagine that He’s beyond disappointed and even hurt with how we’re treating one another these days.

Either way, it’s always safe to say that we can and should do better. We talked several weeks ago about how our world doesn’t value the truth anymore. Lies are just easier and tend to hurt less. So we’ve just taken it upon ourselves to decide that the truth doesn’t matter any longer. It’s one of those seriously sad “advancements” that we’ve made and accepted. After all why do we need the truth?

Well, the truth is the only thing that helps us. It helps us grow and improve. It helps our relationships become rooted in something unbreakable. It gives us the opportunity to actually know what’s real and important. Basically the truth is the only solid foundation that we can build anything on that will last. Lies change and shift based on needs or wants. The truth is always constant, always reliable.

So it’s easy to see why we need the truth, what I’ll never fully understand is why so many don’t want it. But the part of this verse that really stuck out at me when I read it this morning is that part in the middle. Whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The accuracy of that is incredible! We see this one every single day anymore. Anyone who speaks the truth to all these lie-seekers is a jerk. Anyone who stands us for good is seen as some kind of monster. And it’s only getting worse.

Seriously, it’s scary just how upside we’ve gotten this one. The truth isn’t something to hate or fear. It’s definitely not something that anyone should be judged or ridiculed for sharing. We should applaud everyone who’s brave enough to keep things real. We should appreciate everyone that stands up for what’s right and good in our world. But we’ve chosen to push them aside, call them freaks, and even hate them for their willingness to be honest.

I guess it makes sense in some sick way. The world hates the truth, so it’s obviously going to hate anyone who’s truthful and shares the truth. I can honestly say that I never thought I’d see the day where people were attacked for speaking the truth and standing up for what is good and right. But I’m also not surprised. After all, this place is absolutely dead-set on going as fast as possible in the wrong direction. So again, it only makes sense that people are going to hate anyone that tells them they’re messing up.

The good news is that God’s truth will always win. God’s way will always win. And everyone who clings to Him and stands firm in their faith in Him will stand on the victorious side of things when all’s said and done. We can’t live in fear of people who are content with living in lies and sin. It doesn’t matter what they say, think, or even do to us. They just can’t change the truth, no matter how much they yell or push against it. So keep on standing firm in your faith. Keep on sharing the truth. Keep on sharing God with this world even if they don’t like it. They need Him, don’t have to like that fact, but we will all always need Him.

These lives aren’t about pleasing people or being right and accepted in the world’s eyes. It’s about living for Christ and helping Him in any way that we possibly can. So it’s okay if the world hates you or calls you a fool because of the truth in your faith. It only means you’re doing something right! What would happen if we all spent more time worrying about making God happy and proud instead of pleasing this broken world? Things might be pretty different. I say it’s worth a try!