As we near day 200 of our reading together it is important to be reminded how important truth is. Every day that we read God's Word we are availing ourselves to truth and to the blessed rewards of ordering our lives in accordance with it. But when we neglect truth and even walk after lies it can only lead to troubles.
In our first reading today we entered into the book of Judges, and although we see some victory we also see the seeds of defeat. Toward the end of the chapter we read over and over that a certain tribe "did not drive out the inhabitants" of a certain city. The problem with that is that every person left in those cities was a person who could tempt Israel with something that is false - a false god; a false religion. And since we have also been reading the prophets we know that Israel succumbed to the temptation, embracing what was false, leading to their forsaking the Lord and their eventual removal from the land of promise. Thus, being soft about deceit did God's chosen people much harm.
In our second reading we run into the problem of lies again. In Acts 5 we see Ananias and Sapphira selling a piece of property and giving a portion of the proceeds to the apostles to distribute to others who have a need. This is a really good thing, but the problem is that Ananias and Sapphira lied about what they did. They made is seem like they gave all the proceeds of the sale to the apostles, when in reality that had only given part. Now it wasn't wrong for them to give only part. What was wrong was that they introduced lies and deceit into the early church, and as we read we saw they did that to their own peril. Their deaths may seem a bit severe to us, but it should remind us how damaging lies can be to the people of God. God thought them so damaging that in the infancy of the church, He chose to make a stunning point.
In our third reading in Jeremiah 14 we come across lies again. Jeremiah was being very clear that the people would be consumed by the sword, famine and pestilence, but there were other prophets in the land who were saying the opposite. Jeremiah was warning the people that their evil ways would reap dire consequences, but the other prophets were saying they had nothing to worry about. They tried to give the people a false assurance when the fact was the cloud of God's judgment was right above their heads. God, through His prophet, assured the people that the false prophets would find themselves under the very things (famine, sword and pestilence) they so boldly told the people not to worry about.
In each account the warning is the same - beware of lies and deceit. If you willingly or unwilling take lies in, it will lead to your destruction. That is what happened in the garden. Adam and Eve bought the lies of the devil and this earth has not been the same since.
Brothers and sisters, that's why a commitment to the truth is so important. That's why reading and meditating on the Bible is so vital. It places before us the truth of God's Word, which will equip us to ward off the lies of the evil one. Since this is true, let us remain committed to the intake of God's Word, and let us find others who will band with us and speak truth in our lives. As we have read before, "These are no idle words, for they are your life." Ultimately, they lead us to know the One who said He is "the way, the truth and the life".
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