Truth or Consequences
by Joan Vetter
Last week I planted some bean seeds. The man who handed them to me told me they came from Africa, and the beans would grow about a foot long. I trusted his words, so I planted his seeds. They have already broken through the ground, and even though I've never seen the beans I fully expect very long beans. Because I trusted him, I believe they will grow as he said, but in the unlikely event that they don't, I've not really lost anything.
However, there are many areas where believing something told to us can have negative consequences. For instance, the Bernie Madoff investment scam. People believed his words, and suffered huge financial losses. Perhaps you can think of some lie you may have bought into. There are always consequences when we believe a lie, some more serious than others.
Recently I heard an attractive, confident woman share about how the words her father planted in her mind almost destroyed her life. She shared that, "Growing up under his roof was a nightmare, literally. EVERY supper table conversation revolved around warnings and dire predictions of calamity. He had a special fear of the Nazi era in Germany (although he was not there) and upon meeting them, would invite any survivor of that holocaust to our home to describe their experiences." His obsession with this dark time in world history and other negative things planted great fear in her as a young girl about her own future, unreasonable as that was. She is now 60 years old, coming to terms with the lies and fearful thoughts, and is finally getting free of the fears he planted in her mind and heart. She shares, "A few years ago, during my quiet time with the Lord, He very clearly spoke, "Put on your strong shoes and lace them well, I'm taking you to who you are." That was followed by a dream of a little girl sobbing - Jesus held out His hand and said, "I know who you are, I'll take you there."
The Word of God declares we will KNOW the truth and the truth will set us free, but we have a significant part to play in first desiring to walk in the truth. When we do desire this, and begin to pray and study Scripture, we will learn of God's goodness - yet we still must understand the deception of fear. We are to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves, walking in confidence that God will reveal truth in our lives. He desires us to be set free and blessed, living lives that are not tormented by fear.
The dictionary defines deceive as, "to lead astray or frustrate usually by underhandedness, imposing a false idea or belief that causes ignorance, bewilderment or helplessness. Mislead implies a leading astray that may or may not be intentional. Delude implies deceiving so thoroughly as to obscure the truth. Beguile stresses the use of charm and persuasion in deceiving."
Words are usually the vehicles through which deception travels. However, they can also be carriers of blessing and beauty. For instance, let me describe a peaceful garden to you. There are hundreds of red tulips with a border of yellow tulips, an arbor covered with white honeysuckle, and a light green weeping willow tree whose leaves cascade over a pond with sparkling blue-green water. Our imagination can process this picture similar to a photographer developing a picture.
In Proverbs 16:24 we see that pleasant words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the bones. I take calcium for my bones, but maybe just as important is to practice speaking pleasant words to nourish my soul and my bones. We can't always choose the words spoken to us - but we can choose to reject the words or thoughts that paint a negative picture. For instance, a popular author who has now published hundreds of books asked a publisher at a writer's conference what she could do to improve her manuscript. The shocking response was, "Honey, just throw it out." Thankfully, she made a choice not to allow those words to color her destiny.
Just days before the closing on our home in Ohio, our realtor called to say, "There has been a glitch - your septic tank didn't pass inspection." My husband was already in Houston and I had a ticket to fly out after the closing. I had a choice: panic or trust. I had just learned a definition for FEAR - False Evidence Appearing Real. I shared that with our realtor and told her somehow I didn't believe it was true. I kept saying to the Lord all day, "I trust You to work this all out." At 5:00 that evening she called back to say, "I'm really not sure how this happened, but the bank didn't require - and didn't even do a septic inspection."
Listen as the Lord speaks to each of us: "I put before you life or death - choose life." Let's choose life in the words we allow into our hearts, choose life in the words we speak, and choose life as we picture our future.
