Psalm 25:4-5
Guide me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
For You [and only You] I wait [expectantly] all the day long. (Psalm 24:5, AMP)
Things are changing so fast in my time, that it sometimes gives me a head spin trying to catch up with them all. One common refrain I hear nowadays is – “you can’t speak my truth“. Or “you don’t know my truth“.
It confuses me, I must confess. I always thought truth was universal, you know. Like, if something is wrong, then we all agree it is wrong. But moral grounds are shifting and as we struggle to find a common point to stand and agree on – everyone claims his own turf is truth. At least, if not for the rest of us, for them. This reminds me of the old story of the blind men and the elephant.
The story goes thus:
Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. One day the villagers told them, “Hey, there is an elephant in the village today.”
They had no idea what an elephant is. They decided, “Even though we would not be able to see it, let us go and feel it anyway.” All of them went where the elephant was. Everyone of them touched the elephant.
“Hey, the elephant is a pillar,” said the first man who touched his leg.
“Oh, no! it is like a rope,” said the second man who touched the tail.
“Oh, no! it is like a thick branch of a tree,” said the third man who touched the trunk of the elephant.
“It is like a big hand fan” said the fourth man who touched the ear of the elephant.
“It is like a huge wall,” said the fifth man who touched the belly of the elephant.
“It is like a solid pipe,” Said the sixth man who touched the tusk of the elephant.
They began to argue about the elephant and everyone of them insisted that he was right. It looked like they were getting agitated. A wise man was passing by and he saw this. He stopped and asked them, “What is the matter?” They said, “We cannot agree to what the elephant is like.” Each one of them told what he thought the elephant was like. The wise man calmly explained to them, “All of you are right. The reason every one of you is telling it differently because each one of you touched the different part of the elephant. So, actually the elephant has all those features what you all said.”
Unlike the rest of us, God’s truth is universal, whole and complete. For on this side of eternity, we only see in part. God has the masterplan, and sees the big picture. And so my response to Him today, like Psalm 25:4, is: I want to know YOUR ways – not the ways of the latest fad, or the latest popular thinking. Teach me YOUR paths.
Lord, even as the grounds of truth and right and moral consciousness are shifting, guide me in YOUR truth and help me stay grounded in that truth. It is all that matters. And as you do, make my heart willing to listen and to pay attention O God. Amen!
Selah!
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