“It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.” – Psalm 118:8
God is the final authority over every man. He was before man. He sees what man can not. He is eternal. He is wisdom and truth.
When God speaks he holds court over the opinions of the smartest men.
The difference between what you believe and what God said is one of authority.
There can be no greater pursuit than to learn what God said. But instead of learning the truth of what God said in the Bible, the spiritually enlightened claim to be on a journey of self-discovery to learn what “I believe”, or what “everyone else believes” outside God’s authority.
From this perspective God is not the final authority. “I” am the authority, determining what is true and what is not.
This is putting confidence in man, and not trusting the LORD.
With billions of people trying to discover their personal beliefs there can be no certainty on what is true. There are billions of people with the same capabilities to discover, learn, and acknowledge.
Why is one man, group of men, scholar, denomination, or Christian celebrity the determiner of what is truth?
God alone is the final authority over all men. Without letting God be true, there is no sure way to know the truth.
Man can believe whatever he wants, but that does not make it true. Men have it backwards thinking that God can say whatever he wants, but that doesn’t make it true. This is a corruption of the truth.
God wrote a book. The words of the Bible are authoritative over any spiritual commentary made by any scholar or preacher on the planet.
Men can be wrong, they are all fallible. Arguments over what men said are vain.
“My man is better than your man.”
“My scholar is smarter than your scholar.”
“My council is older than your council.”
How do you know any of them are true? How can we know for certain? This is an authority problem. Let God be true, but every man a liar (Rom 3:4).
To know the truth of God, you must believe the Bible. You cannot believe the Bible unless you first read it. (You cannot read it unless you first have it.)
You do not read the Bible looking for what you believe; you read the Bible studying what God said.
This is the difference between trusting the LORD and putting your confidence in men.