February 9, 2016

Truth Always Reveals Itself

9 “Where is your wife Sarah?” they asked him.

“There, in the tent,” he said.

10 Then one of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.”

Now Sarah was listening at the entrance to the tent, which was behind him. 11 Abraham and Sarah were already very old, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. 12 So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, “After I am worn out and my lord is old, will I now have this pleasure?”

13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

15 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, “I did not laugh.”

But he said, “Yes, you did laugh.” -- Genesis 18:9-15

The truth is sometimes hard to believe. We see what we want to see. We hear what we want to hear. We dismiss what seems unbelievable.

Truth. Fact. I was trained as a journalist. As reporters, we were told to pay close attention so that we would report the facts correctly. There was no room for opinion unless it was a quote attributed to someone else.

Later I became an editorial columnist. That was all opinion. I backed up my opinions with facts but they were still opinions. People might disagree -- and many of them did -- but opinions are the views of one person.

Sarah laughed when the visitor said she would bear Abraham a son. She couldn’t see it. They were old and likely had prayed for a son for much of their lives. It was completely understandable that she would have trouble believing that God would grant her request when she was long-past childbearing age.

Her laughter showed her unbelief. And the visitor called her own it. She was afraid and rather than admit it, she denied her laughter. She made the situation worse with her lie. But you can’t lie to God.

Have you ever denied a truth, then tried to hide it? Probably. It’s like a child who breaks something and hides it because he doesn’t want to get in trouble for breaking it. Then he denies it when he’s found out. We don’t want to face the consequences of our actions so we lie instead.

Our lies don’t change the truth. We can’t reinvent the facts. We can continue to deny the truth and hope everyone believes our lies or we can confess our sins and admit the truth. Either way, the truth always comes out.