HELP!

“I’m in trouble. I cry to God, desperate for an answer: “Deliver me from the liars, God! They smile so sweetly but lie through their teeth.”

These words from God’s Word, (Psalm 120) first uttered hundreds of years ago could also be spoken by anyone in our time. The reality we are faced with makes it clear: Things are not all right as they are, and they are not getting any better. We have been told lies longer than we can remember: “human beings are basically nice and good.” “Everyone is born equal and innocent and self-sufficient.” “If we are experiencing problems now, it is someone’s fault and we can correct that with just a little more intelligence or effort or time.”

We need rescuing from these lies. Lies of advertisers who claim to know what we want and need, the lies of entertainers who promise a cheap way to joy, the lies of psychologists who offer to shape us so that we will live happily and successfully. They all claim to tell us who we are and omit everything about our origin in God and our destiny in God! They talk about the world without telling us that God made it.

Being fed up with how we’ve been lied to, we need to consider the truth. The truth that God made and loves us and those living beside us, and that we therefore are neighbors. The truth about the world is that God rules and provides for it. The truth is that we all have sinned in refusing to let God be for us, over us and in us. The truth at the center of our lives and history, that Jesus Christ was crucified on the Cross for our sin and raised from the dead for our salvation. The truth that we can participate in new life as we believe in him, accept his mercy, respond to his love, and attend to his commands.

The first step toward God is a step away from the lies of the world. The word that the Bible uses to describe this action of saying no to the world’s lies and yes to God’s truth is repentance.