The Power of Truth

Some of you know my second oldest, Graham. For those of you who don’t – he does NOT stop talking. It is constant chatter from that kid! God bless him.

The chatter truly started before Graham was two and has continued to grow each year with him in length. By the time Graham turned five, though, I was driving him and his brothers through town one day, when we passed their dad’s childhood home like we often do. But this day, Logan was in for a real treat! Graham broke the silence and began to recall a terribly prolix narrative about their dad, his childhood, the red house their grandfather built some 30 years before, and the used-to-be-family land on which it sits. When Graham finally stopped talking, Logan, unimpressed, dully replied, “That was a really long story, Graham.”

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud. Three-year-olds have a way of bluntly saying precisely what adults are thinking. Don’t get me wrong, I love Graham’s enthusiastic story-telling, and I pray someday all that talking will serve him well. But Logan was right; Graham’s story was long-winded and downright painful to listen to.

Well, my hope is that the quote I want to share with you here, although long, will not be that painful to read. It is a piece of writing of Deitrich Bonhoeffer’s, an unbelievably intelligent theologian and compassionate pastor whose stance against Hitler during World War II ultimately cost him his life. It is worth noting, however, that this quote is not from a sermon or a book Bonhoeffer wrote. He wasn’t preaching here. He was writing a personal letter to his brother-in-law in 1936. You can find it in Eric Metaxas’ book, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy on page 136-137:

“First of all I will confess quite simply – I believe that the Bible alone is the answer to all our questions, and that we need only to ask repeatedly and a little humbly, in order to receive the answer. One cannot simply read the Bible, like other books. One must be prepared really to enquire of it. Only thus will it reveal itself. Only if we expect from it the ultimate answer, shall we receive it. That is because in the Bible God speaks to us. And one cannot simply think about God in one’s own strength, one has to enquire of him. Only if we seek him, will he answer us. Of course it is also possible to read the Bible like any other book, that is to say from the point of view of textual criticism, etc.; there is nothing to be said against that. Only that that is not the method which will reveal to us the heart of the Bible, but only the surface, just as we do not grasp the words of someone we love by taking them to bits, but by simply receiving them, so that for days they go on lingering in our minds, simply because they are the words of a person we love; and just as these words reveal more and more of the person who said them as we go on, like Mary, “pondering them in our heart,” so it will be with the words of the Bible. Only if we will venture to enter into the words of the Bible, as though in them this God were speaking to us who loves us and does not will to leave us along with our questions, only so shall we learn to rejoice in the Bible…

“If it is I who determine where God is to be found, then I shall always find a God who corresponds to me in some way, who is obliging, who is connected with my own nature. But if God determines where he is to be found, then it will be in a place which is not immediately pleasing to my nature and which is not at all congenial to me. This place is the Cross of Christ. And whoever would find him must go to the foot of the Cross, as the Sermon on the Mount commands. This is not according to our nature at all, it is entirely contrary to it. But this is the message of the Bible, not only in the New but also in the Old Testament…   

“And I would like to tell you now quite personally: since I have learnt to read the Bible in this way – and this has not been for so very long – it becomes every day more wonderful to me. I read it in the morning and the evening, often during the day as well, and every day I consider a text which I have chosen for the whole week, and try to sink deeply into it, so as really to hear what it is saying. I know that without this I could not live properly any longer.”

Without this I could not live properly any longer. Without this… Without reading the Bible. Without hearing God speak to him. Without seeking Jesus. Without meditating on Truth.

Do you feel the weight of those words? Do they cause your heart to pause and reflect? I feel them, and they do mine. And here’s why: Bonhoeffer was crazy smart – way smarter than I’ll ever be. He was born in a different country than I was, raised in a completely different generation than my own, lived an entirely different life than I have. And yet, I read his words and know, I feel, that which is greater than us both – our belief in the cross, our faith. The Gospel connects us beyond all countries, generations, gender, cultures, and status. I understand and relate to Bonhoeffer because he loved Jesus; he recognized his need for a Savior; he proclaims the power of God’s Word. And so do I, or at least I hope to.

I think we can all agree that people’s stories are powerful. Redemption stories are powerful. And my book is a redemption story. It’s even in the subtitle: A Story of Bulimia, Adultery, and Infertility Redeemed by Truth. But the reason my story is powerful is not because of me or anything I’ve ever said, done, or written. It is powerful because the Truth is powerful. The Word of God is powerful. Jesus is powerful. My book, Desert Vineyards, does not display some great, amazing person that I am. Quite the opposite, in fact. It is the worst of me and the best of God. God gets all the credit, all the glory.

Sometimes (most of the time), I feel like such a fool for writing it. I continually have to rebuke the enemy’s lie that tells me I’ve written a book that probably only my family and friends will read and that I’ll subsequently be merely humiliated by. That it was a colossal waste of time, money, energy, and tears. So many tears. And then, the other day, as I was trying to replace that lie with truth – that what truly matters, in my heart and in my life, is that I obeyed God by writing it and He is trustworthy to use it however He pleases – God sweetly reminded me that people are craving truth. We’re all craving truth in this world. We hope for it. We long for it. We search high and low, in every nook and cranny of our surroundings, and go to great lengths to find it because we so desperately need it. But Jesus is the Truth (John 14:6). And Isaiah 45:18-19 declares:

“I am the LORD, and there is no other.

I have not spoken in secret, from somewhere in a land of darkness;

I have not said to Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in vain.’

I, the LORD, speak the truth; I declare what is right.”

While we seek truth (often times in all the wrong places), the Lord says, “Here, I am! I am the Truth, and I want to be known. I have made myself known. Come! Read my Word! It’s the greatest love story to ever exist. I am your deepest longing. I am the One who can fully satisfy your soul.”

It is no hyperbole that as much as my flesh wants no one to ever read my book, my spirit desperately wants everyone to read it. Not because of me – I’m just a wretched sinner – but because God is a glorious God and His Truth is powerful. The Truth changes us. It redeems us. We cannot live properly without it.