“Righteous are you, O Lord, and your laws are right. The statutes you have laid down are righteous; they are fully trustworthy.” Psalm 119:137-138 (NIV)
What we believe about the Bible is crucial. As believers, God’s Word isn’t just another source of information; it’s the primary source through which we filter all other information. This stanza of Psalm 119 tells us why we can trust the Bible to be true, even when the world tells us otherwise.
First, we can trust the Bible to be right because it comes from a righteous God. Righteousness is central to God’s character. If He could ever be wrong then He could not be God. He is always right because He is truth (John 14:6), and His Word is always right because it is truth (John 17:17). That means not only is God completely and eternally righteous, but so is His Word (vv142, 160).
We can also trust the Bible because God’s “promises have been thoroughly tested” (v140 NIV). Believers through the ages testify that God and His Word are trustworthy. The psalmist said, “Trouble and anguish have come upon me, but Your commands are my delight” (v143 NIV). Just before Moses died he proclaimed, “The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He” (Deuteronomy 32:4).
David wrote the following words after the Lord delivered him from Saul. “As for God, His way is blameless; the word of the Lord is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him” (Psalm 18:30). As a prisoner Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day” (2 Timothy 1:12). Generation after generation still testify that God and His Word are trustworthy.
Once we settle in our minds that God is always right, we can stop grappling with what the world tells us is true or not true. Only then do we begin to trust the Bible as the primary source for our core beliefs. We don’t have to fully grasp the deepest doctrines in Scripture to believe the Bible is true. We just have to trust the righteous nature of God and depend on Him for fuller understanding. “Your statutes are always righteous; give me understanding that I may live” (v144 NIV).