The Truth No Matter the Cost

Hosea {4:1} 'Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.'

The Lord has a controversy with people.

Controversy.

I feel a dictionary definition coming on...

controversy (kòn´tre-vûr´sê) noun
plural controversies

1. A dispute, especially a public one, between sides holding opposing views. See synonyms at argument.

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A dispute between sides holding opposing views.

The Lord has a dispute with His chosen children, those inhabiting the land He gave to them.

So that means the Lord has one view point and His chosen another.

The verse goes on to say why He has a controversy--

'because there is no TRUTH, nor MERCY, nor KNOWLEDGE of GOD in the land.'

So here once again God's chosen people have turned from Him. If there is no truth then they are believing lies. If there is no mercy then they are being heartless. If there is no knowledge of God they are wallowing in their ignorance and are content to be so.

Good and evil, the greatest controversy of all, the root of all life's problems exist between good and evil.

Truth or lies.
Mercy or no mercy.
Knowledge or no knowledge.

We need the truth. More and more all the studying on truth emphasizing just how important it is to have the truth, to know it, to follow it when we know what is is.

The devil would have a believe that the truth doesn't matter, that we live in a world that accepts half truths, quarter truths, miniscule bits of truth and call that acceptable.

What's the oath people take when they're sworn in on the witness stand and such- 'I swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God.' Something like that, and you know what, that's exactly how our lives should be led not just up there on the witness stand being sworn to do so. Yet we need that swearing in because people don't tell the truth the whole truth. We can't trust that anyone that isn't sworn in will tell the truth, and even then people don't always tell the truth, not even when they've sworn to do so.

And it's not just on the Bible people swear, God is being taken out of most thing civil so church and state are separate and so nowadays people can do this-

'What is "being sworn in"?

Before you give your evidence you will be asked to swear that you will tell the truth. This is being sworn in. You may be sworn in by taking a sacred oath that binds your conscience, for example by swearing on the Bible, or you may affirm or promise to tell the truth without religious belief. If you lie in court, you could be charged with a serious crime called perjury. The penalty for perjury can be as high as 14 years in jail.'

http://www.plea.org/freepubs/bwc/witness.htm

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Taking a sacred oath that binds your conscience- swearing on the Bible.

Or

Affirm/promise you will tell the truth.

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With or without the religious swearing, promising to tell the truth is something we use in our court system, something we use to try and compel the truth from people who might not want to give the truth, or simply wanting to make a strong statement from those who are more than willing to give the truth of a matter. We use this *truth* promise every day thousands of times a day in courts all over the nation, it's safe to say all over the world in various court systems the truth is something each court is supposed to be adamant about receiving before they can convict anyone of a crime.

The truth.

God wants the truth to be known by everyone. His truth. Jesus made disciples that would carry His truth on long after He was gone. Disciples, teachers, prophets, all of truth.

Hosea {4:1} 'Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.'

The Lord does have a controversy with those who won't accept His truth, with those who show no mercy, with those who refuse knowledge of Him.

The controversy is all wrapped up in the dispute between good and evil.

Regardless of what people have done to twist God into something evil over the years, regardless of the many deceptions that abound- simple deceptions that ease the conscience leaving us without the truth and blind to it because we don't really want the truth, regardless of all that, the truth lives on and will forever live on in Jesus Christ.

He is the truth.

Let us all strive to HEAR the word of the Lord and understand that we have to have truth, mercy, and knowledge of God if we don't want to have a controversy with the Lord. I know I don't want to be controversial with the Lord. I want to know His truth, to have mercy through Him, to know Him. It might not be something I like, something that will put a smile on my face every moment of every day, it might make it so I face the Lord's chastizing to guide me and correct my ways, but I need the truth in my life.

This is so much more than we fully understand, and sometimes seeking to understand takes us right out of our comfort zones and thrusts us into confusion and yet we need to try and understand- trusting that God will see us through no matter the price we pay in any way, so that we can follow Him and the truth in Him.

The battle is being waged and has been for a long time.

Whose side are you on?

Really think about that, take a few moments and really think about the answer remembering that Satan has a counterfeit side that looks very, very real. Let us pray for the whole truth, and for no deception, that our eyes may be opened, our hearts open to God and His truth no matter what it costs us.

In Jesus, by His mercy and His grace, His love.

Amen.