A Tornado of Tall Tales

“Give us help from trouble, for the help of man is useless.”

Psalms 60:11 ESV

I had a childhood friend who told tall tales. They usually involved spectacular stories of his father’s exploits. I would listen patiently to the man’s amazing feats and try not to let on that I knew the fictional accounts dwelt more in my friend’s mind than in reality. He loved his dad, and looking back, it was sweet.

Telling lies by changing narratives is dangerous. What is quant in a little boy, is repulsive in any other realm. Tall tales should be left to storytellers. We want to be told the truth, especially from those in authority, and when we are not, on a repeated basis, they lose our trust. I fear we are at a point in our culture wherein it is growing increasingly difficult to believe anyone. As the old question goes, “How do you know they are lying? Answer: Their lips are moving.”

Health authorities change their edits constantly. News pundits manipulate the storyline until you can’t even figure out what the daily news is really about. My grandson was peering through a glass of cocktail juice the other morning and observed that everything on the breakfast table looked red. Everyone is looking through a different glass of juice these days and we are being told a dozen different accounts of the same event. I want to jam a pair of thick earplugs in my ears and wander off into the sunset. But then I stopped and ask myself a most relevant question. Is there no place I can run to find a reliable, steady flow of truth? Yes, yes, yes!

The bible is our only hope to navigate these troubled times. The truths shared within the scriptures are eternal and reliable. Psalms 46:1 reads, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Psalms 60:11 records the cry of one in distress, “Give us help from trouble, for the help of man is useless.” How relevant is that verse? In Hebrews the writer encourages his readers by saying, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” He goes on to write, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

The bible is the hook I’m hanging my hat on these days. In fact, I’m hanging my coat, my pants and my shirt on what the bible teaches. Let’s just take it a step further and hang everything on the peg of biblical truth. Faith is born from truth and the only truth I’m witnessing these days is between the leather cover of my bible. The evening news will only depress you; shut it off.