Psa 146:3-8 Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God: Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever: Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The LORD looseth the prisoners: The LORD openeth the eyes of the blind: the LORD raiseth them that are bowed down: the LORD loveth the righteous:
Everyone has an opinion. The problem is that opinions are not always based on fact. Often they are biased by life experience in addition to or regardless of the facts available. People usually believe deeply in their opinions especially if they have thought enough about them to be deeply invested in the concept behind them, right or wrong. These opinions can be shared with a lot of intensity and conviction. It can be difficult to filter out truth and error from personal bias. It is the bias that can make it difficult to discern truth from error.
It is our job to figure out the difference between truth and untruth because what we personally believe affects the condition of our soul. Our life depends on it. That’s why we are admonished to study and know the truth so that we can rightly divide truth from error (2Ti 2:15).
It is common to listen to someone explain something from their perspective and believe it unquestioningly because of the faith that carries the message and plants it in our mind. That is not good enough. We must go to the source to verify the information and use discernment to filter the truth of what was presented from the untruth. That may at times feel like an impossible task, but we can trust God that he will help us learn what is right so that we can separate the truth from the untruth. He has given us his word and we have access to the understanding of it. He also witnesses to the truth of that understanding.
We have been told many times to remember our first witnesses when we stumble or struggle spiritually. That helps to gird us up in times of battle when it feels easier to give up than to continue fighting for our spiritual life. It isn’t only our first witnesses we can trust, but all of the witnesses God has given us. No man can give us the witness in our soul that gives us the stamp of approval that God gives. He will not lead us astray. We can trust in those witnesses and we can trust in him. He is the ultimate source of truth. We can trust him directly or trust the God in man. The way to know what is in man is to know what’s in God’s word and measure what is presented by man by the truth in God’s word.