What is Truth?

"What is truth?" was Pilate's question after Jesus stated that He came to bear witness to the truth.  Likewise, in the movie, The Jesus Revolution, the predominate question of the hippie generation was how to find truth.  It is clear that until we have a foundation of truth about life and its purpose that man is floundering in uncertainty and hopelessness.  

On one hand, God has created an awesome universe and rightfully declares in Romans 1:19-20, "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse."  On the other hand, God has created us in the image of God and given us free will to seek and search for truth.  Proverbs 25:2 says it well, "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings to search out a matter."

Jesus told us to ask, to seek, and to knock.  He pointed out that when we seek Him with all our heart, He will be found.  Proverbs 2:1-5 describes an attitude of desiring and determined seeking that brings great results, concluding in verses 4-5, "If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God."  Jesus asked the man with an infirmity at the pool of Bethesda, "Do you want to be healed?" The point is, how much do we really want to know God better and how desperate are we to go after more truth?

Jesus is the truth, and He has given us the Spirit of truth to reveal truth from His Word.  Jesus promised the Spirit would lead us into all truth.  Rather that live by man's worldly standards and understanding of life, we can know the truth about the purpose of life, about God's will and what really matters, about salvation and all Jesus has done to forgive sin and make us a new creation, and finally, eternal judgment and our glorious forever destiny.  We are the most blessed people on earth who know our God and His truth.  

In the third letter of John, John expressed God's heart when he said he had no greater joy than to hear that his children were walking in truth.  The end of the matter is this: seek truth, know truth, walk in truth. 

Must Have a Word from God!

When all is said and done, more is said than done!  A man of God said this truth about prayer.  However, something very similar could accurately be said about hearing the voice of God.  Will all of you who heard from God today please stand up?

Hebrews 4:8 says, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts."  Obviously the first foundation principle of hearing from God is to know and believe that God wants to speaks to you.  In John 10 Jesus declares that He calls His sheep by name,  My sheep hear my voice,  He leads them in and out and they find green pasture.  Jesus showed this same principle when He told His disciples that they were not servants, but friends, "for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you."  From the time God walked in the garden with Adam and Eve, His heart is to commune with those who love and follow Him. 

As Jesus was about to complete His ministry, He further promised to send the Holy Spirit who would guide you into all truth, "for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come."  (John 16:13)  In Romans 8, Paul likewise points out that those who are led by the Holy Spirit are sons of God.  The Lord will cause His glorious voice to be heard. (Isaiah 30;30)

Once we have settled the fact that God wants to speak to us, we have to want it enough to seek it.  Do you remember, in John 5, when Jesus asked the sick man by the pool of Siloam, "Do you want to be made well?" He waits to be gracious to us, for us to desire and seek His promises.  God states that when we seek Him with our whole heart, He will be found (Jeremiah 29).  We need the attitude "As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul thirsts for You, O God." (Psalm 42).  So the second principle to hear God's voice is to desire it enough to seek it.  As long as we can live without hearing God's voice, we will.  The Amplified version makes this case even stronger in Psalm 53 "God looked down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there were any who understood and who sought (inquired after and desperately required) God"  When we understand that we must have a word from God, we will seek it until we obtain it.  

The third principle which opens our hearts to hear God's voice is the Word of God.  Jesus is the Word, the divine Logos, the complete expression of God and His nature.  However, the written Word of God is given as "precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little" (Isaiah 28) to reveal to us the knowledge of who He is.  On the other hand, faith comes by hearing, and hearing the "rhema" Word of God.  Rhema is the specific phrase or message that God wishes to communicate to us this moment. As we grow in the Word (Logos), our knowledge of Him and His truth sets us free, and causes us to be more open to the rhema Word that God gives for our edification, exhortation, and comfort. 

Many times the "rhema" word comes from letting the Holy Spirit highlight the written "Logos" Word of God.  However, this requires a heart that waits upon Him, allowing that still small voice to penetrate the thoughts and intents of the heart that fill our soulish minds.  The Holy Spirit is willing to speak and teach, more so that we are willing to listen and learn.  If we earnestly desire to hear His voice, if we truly must hear from God, we need a "Jacob wrestling with God" attitude that won't let go until we are blessed.  God honors those who wait upon Him. 

Finally, there is an amazing challenge in Psalm 35:27.  Those who love God's salvation and favor His righteous cause are told to say continually, "Let the Lord be magnified" who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.  If our whole Christian life can be accomplished without God's voice and intervention, then aren't we suggesting that God just as well retire, we don't need Him.  When our vision only goes as far as what "we" can do and does not depend upon or expect God to do "great things" for us, we are hardly living the faith-filled life that pleases God.  We "let" the Lord be magnified by hearing His voice and allowing Him to show us great and wonderful things.  Then as we obey He can confirm His Word and be glorified in and through us.  We must have a word form God in order to accomplish His plan for our lives.