#02 Deceit by Paulette Kelly
“In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me. 2 Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.”
Psalm 120:1-2
Deceit is the ‘intentional misleading or beguiling of another’. The first book of the Bible is rife with it. The crafty snake beguiled Eve into eating the forbidden fruit. Jacob tricked Isaac into believing that he was Esau. Tamar intentionally mislead Judah after he mistreated her. Abraham mislead the Egyptians about his relationship with Sarah. Sarah lied to God…If you stop to think about it the list of deceptions in Genesis is really long.
Who introduced humans to deceit? Satan. He could have gone to Eve and plainly lied, “God is not feeding you well, Eve. He is mean. You need to reach out and take what God won’t give you.” If he was more plain-spoken, he could have admitted, “I wanted to steal God’s throne but He’s too powerful. However, I can hurt Him by hurting you. Eat this fruit now!”
But telling the truth is impossible for Satan so he used his forked tongue ~ deceit. When Satan went to Eve he cast doubt on God’s words. “Did God actually say…?”[v. 1] Then he contradicted God’s words, “Ye shall not surely die.” [v. 4] and got Eve to be suspicious of God’s goodness. “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” [v.5] As he spoke he showed Eve how delicious the fruit looked and she was hooked like a largemouth bass.
Hebrews 6:18 tells us that It is impossible for God to lie and
Proverbs 6:16-19 lists deception as one of the things God hates the most.
“There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.”
Proverbs 6:16-19
Did you notice that lying is displayed as a partner to other evil actions? This is a pattern we find in other scriptures.
Deception is a companion of cursing [Psalms 10:7], hatred [Proverbs 26:24], theft, covetousness, adultery and murder [Mark 7:22; Romans 1:29].
Sadly, deception is acceptable in today’s morally bankrupt world. The humor in many Disney sitcoms hangs on the main character’s need to wriggle out of trouble by lying to his parents or teachers. Dictionaries define white lies as necessary in order to avoid hurting others and WHITE LIE parties are all the rage in certain cities. The word lie itself has evolved into the more palatable ‘alternative facts’. The act of lying is now ‘playing with the truth’ and ‘testing one’s credulity’.
In a world that rewards deception and manipulation, God’s Word is clear. Revelation 21:8 warns,
‘But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur.’
So ‘everyone else is doing it’ is not a good enough reason to follow suit. Jesus has saved us. We must now allow Him to be our Lord. We must choose to be honest bearing in mind 1 John 2:4,
“He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”
1 John 2:4,
Prayer for Honesty
Dear God, Please help me to be honest in my thoughts, actions, and intentions. Please help me to stay away from every form of deception.
I recognize that honesty requires difficult choices, but I know that with Your guidance, I can overcome these challenges. Also, please help me to be honest with myself by acknowledging my sins. Please help me to overcome them. In Jesus Name, amen