DO YOU TELL YOURSELF THE TRUTH?

“ Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will not be shaken. My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge. ” – Psalm 62:5-8.

Have you ever had an inner monologue? People talk to themselves for various reasons, including problem-solving, reasoning, planning, motivation, and attention. No person is more influential in your life than you are, because no one talks to you as much as you talk to yourself. You’re in an unending, incredibly important conversation with yourself every day, especially in times of stress and worry. During these times, we need to be reminded of the power of what we are saying not just to others, but also to ourselves. We need to speak the truth to ourselves.

What are you saying to you about God and your circumstances? Do your words stimulate faith, hope, and courage? Or does your talk stimulate doubt, discouragement, and fear? Do you remind yourself that God is near, or do you reason within yourself that, given your circumstances, He must be distant? Do you point yourself again to God’s grace? The bottom line is this: the state of our hearts is often a direct result of speaking the truth.

While we need to speak the truth to others, we need to speak the truth to ourselves. When searching for truth their is no better resource than the Bible. God’s Word is truth John 17:17 says, “Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth.” We can open our Bible and find the truth at any moment, on any given day. While it’s increasingly harder to discern truth from lies in today’s information-overloaded world, we can confidently look to Scripture. Isaiah 45:19 says, “I publicly proclaim bold promises.I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner. I would not have told the people of Israel to seek me if I could not be found. I, the Lord, speak only what is true and declare only what is right.”

We need to spend regular time in God’s word, meditating and memorizing it to know God’s promises and preach them to ourselves. This will help us focus on Jesus; as we do, we will remember whose footsteps we follow.

The night Jesus was betrayed, as he went to pray in Gethsemane, He took some of His disciples aside and said to them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me” (Matthew 26:38). He was looking ahead to the experience of the cross. But Jesus knew that this experience was not going to be permanent. He knew that there was a resurrection coming. And so “…because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.” (Hebrews 12:2). That is the truth we need for ourselves. The gospel. The death and the resurrection of Jesus, for us.

So, what have you been saying to yourself lately? Do your thoughts fit with the testimony of who God is and who we are in Christ? We cannot control what others say to us, but we can control what we say to ourselves.

Discussion Questions:

Is it harder to speak the truth to others or to ourselves?
What do you tell yourself when you’re afraid or worried? What is the truth that we need to say to ourselves? What can we say to ourselves when we feel overwhelmed by life, or fearful of the unknown?