God must be true, even if every man is a liar. – Romans 3:4
Few verses provide greater comfort than this to me. I survey the landscape of my own life, of the lies I’ve told and the lies told to me and all the pain they’ve wrought and I am thankful that God is true in spite.
I talk with a friend whose marriage is torn apart by deceit and another who is out of a job because of a co-worker’s dishonesty. I know the pain of betrayal they feel. And I pray the truth of God would be a solace and a boon to them.
I look at the character of our president elect and think of the damage that could be done by one so lacking integrity. And I am thankful that God is true (and powerful) above and beyond.
I see another gross miscarriage of justice as the killer of Walter Scott walks free, and I know that mistrial is not true. It is a lie of injustice, of prejudice, of cowardice. And I yearn for the truth of God.
I hear of one childhood friend’s father waylaid with cancer and another childhood friend’s father who passed away suddenly. Who is the liar here? Death and pain, because they are not reality as God intended it to be. And I peer into the future in the certain hope that God’s truth will one day define this world.
Life is not built on a foundation of our own making but on a reality bigger than us – the reality that God is true. God is not just honest, though He is that. God is not simply trustworthy, though is not less than that. God embodies, defines, and exudes all that is true. Truth emanates from and there is no truth apart from Him.
And truth, at its purest, is reality as God intends it to be. It is the reality that reflects who God is. And God will remain true and will bring this truth to bear; he has promised, and He is true.
We are surrounded by the pain of broken promises, deceit, untrustworthiness, broken hopes, dashed dreams, and unmet expectations. People fail us and we fail people. We are betrayed and we betray. We are victims and we are victimizers. In short, every man is a liar.
But God must be true.
We will be hurt. We will be shaken. We will be turned upside down. We will lack the answers and solutions and balms to make life not hurt. We will be left helpless, frustrated, even enraged.
But we have a hope, a truth that shines through the cloud of every untruth. We have a reason to press on.
God must be true.
