The Value of Truth

In the mid 1700’s, during the French and Indian war, a young Colonial militia officer was sent by the British army with a message to a French fort a number of miles away. He was to go on foot, under a flag of truce, and he was to go alone. His message to the French was not his real mission. While he was there waiting for the French commander to reply, the young American was to learn all he could about the strength of the fort and the French troops inside. This information was critical for the British to properly prepare their own plans, and time was of the essence.
It was a cold winter day in the northeast part of this country when the young officer left the French fort with his valuable report. He trudged across snow-covered meadows and through thick woods. He had many hard miles to travel and must get the message back as quickly as possible. Night fell, and the cold bit at his hands and face, but his duty pressed him onward.
It was late at night when he came to the river. He could see its frozen surface by the light of the stars. Just a few miles on the other side of the river was his destination, and he was eager to complete his task, but caution stopped him at the edge of the frozen river. “How thick was the ice?” he wondered. He knew well that certain death awaited him if he fell through the ice in the deep water. In the darkness he was unable to find anything near at hand to test the ice, and he was losing valuable time. With fear rising in his heart, he summoned all of his courage, and kneeling down by the edge of the river, he eased his body out onto the ice. He lay flat upon the frozen surface, trying to spread his weight out as evenly as possible. Then, very carefully, he began half swimming, half crawling across the surface.
His heart was pounding as he approached the middle of the river. Suddenly he heard a rumbling and felt the ice begin to shiver beneath his fingers. He was paralyzed with fear. As the rumbling grew louder and the vibration increased, he knew that any moment now the ice beneath him would give way and down he would go to his icy death. He lay as flat and as still as he possibly could, praying for a miracle. Though the noise grew louder and the shaking worse, still the ice held firm. Looking up he saw appearing out of the darkness in front of him two large draft horses pulling a loaded wagon across the ice. The driver gave the young officer a curious look as he drove past him. The young officer then jumped to his feet and ran the rest of the way across the river and completed his journey.
Now, dear reader, my question to you is this: What was the difference between the first half and the last half of the journey across the frozen river?
The first half was made in ignorance. The last half was made in truth.
What difference did the truth make? Absolutely nothing had changed with the officer’s circumstances, and yet one moment he was consumed with fear, and the next moment he was calmly facing the same situation with confidence. Why? Because he knew the TRUTH.
The truth isn’t always easy or pleasant to hear, but if we are to successfully navigate God’s path for us and avoid the traps and pitfalls that Satan and our own fleshly nature set for us it is absolutely critical that we know the TRUTH. We give God opportunity to reveal His truth to us when we intentionally set aside time for Him to speak to us in prayer and in reading and meditating on His word. The TRUTH is available for us, and it will always set us free. We just need to take the time to pursue it.
Have you figured out who the young American militia officer was? It really is hard to picture the father of our country sliding on his belly across the ice. But his ignorance of the thickness of the ice gives us a chance to see that, even as a young man, George Washington showed outstanding courage. “Go thou and do likewise.”
Blessings in Christ, Alan Harris