Sunday, February 02,
2014, 10:05 p.m. – the Lord Jesus put the song “The Letters” in mind. Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read Psalm 120 (NIV).
I
call on the Lord in my distress,
and he answers me.
Save
me, Lord,
from lying lips
and from deceitful tongues.
What
will he do to you,
and what more besides,
you deceitful tongue?
He
will punish you with a warrior’s sharp arrows,
with burning coals of the broom bush.
Woe
to me that I dwell in Meshek,
that I live among the tents of Kedar!
Too
long have I lived
among those who hate peace.
I
am for peace;
but when I speak, they are for war.
Lying
“Lying” means dishonest, insincere, and false. A lie is a
false statement, appearance and/or impression, usually given deliberately in
order to mislead or to deceive people into thinking something is true which is
not true. When a word has “ing” on the end of it as a suffix, it denotes action
or process, meaning this is ongoing, i.e. it involves the practice of telling
lies.
There are many different ways in which we can lie. It is not
always with our mouths and it is not always directly, but can be indirectly,
which is then termed deception, which is the practice of willfully and
deliberately misleading or hiding the truth. Involved in deception can be cheating,
betrayal, trickery, two-timing, double-crossing, conning, manipulating,
scheming, misinforming, defrauding and/or deluding, etc. Many people deceive
themselves into believing that if they don’t tell an outright lie, and instead just
withhold necessary and pertinent information which they are legally, ethically
or morally bound to divulge, that they are not really lying. So, we can be
self-deceived, as well. People who practice telling lies are good at justifying
their lies, too, making excuses for why a lie is ok, even sometimes thinking
they are somehow doing good by sparing other people’s feelings. One form of
this can be in half-truths, in which the liar tells part of the truth but
withholds the other half.
Slander is another form of lying, only it is intended to be very
malicious and damaging to the individuals about whom the lies are told. We also
lie when we are insincere in our remarks to people or when we use false
flattery, thinking we are being kind, but lies
are never kind. Or we can lie when we use joking and teasing as a form of
saying how we really feel but yet denying it by saying, “I was just joking.” Sometimes
people use joking and teasing as a way of giving “hidden messages,” which then
the recipient must either ignore or try to decipher, which is not fair or kind.
This, too, is a form of lying, because it disguises the truth in a way so as to
get a message across while denying the truth of it. As well, if we give an
impression of one thing while we know something else is the truth, then that is
lying. We can also lie with our body language, involving eyes, lips, jaws, body
movements, tone of voice, etc. So, just because we do not verbalize an outright
lie does not mean we are not lying. [See Rom. 16:17-19; Eph. 5:3-13; and Col.
2:8, etc.]
Liars
The Bible has much to say on this subject, because God
detests lies, and he is truth. We read in 1 John that if we claim to have
fellowship with God or if we claim to love God and yet we continue to live
lifestyles given over to sin, we are liars and we do not live by the truth. We
cannot be in Christ and yet continue to walk (live) in darkness (in the ways of
our sinful flesh). If we say we know Christ, but yet we do not make it a
practice of doing what he says to do, then we are liars, and the truth is not
in us (cf. Jas. 1:22). If we claim to love God and yet we hate our brothers or
sisters, we are liars (See 1 Jn. 1:6; 2:4; 3:9; 4:20). So, here lying involves
making it a practice of claiming one thing while doing another (the opposite).
This is also called hypocrisy: “the false claim to or pretense of having
admirable principles, beliefs, or feelings” while behaving otherwise (Encarta).
A claim to know Christ, though, is not a claim to absolute perfection, yet it
is a claim to be in regular communion with Almighty God, to love Jesus Christ,
to walk in his ways and to do what he says (in lifestyle and in practice), and
to love our fellow humans. If we willfully choose to do just the opposite in
lifestyle and practice, then we are acting hypocritically and thus we are
lying.
People often practice lying because they are covering up for
other forms of sinful, wicked and ungodly behavior. They are still living and
walking in bondage to one or various types of sinful conduct which entangles
them (See Heb. 12:1), and from which they need deliverance. People who are
involved in addictive sinful behavior, for instance, in order to continue, will
often become liars in the various forms previously mentioned above, not always
just lying with their lips, but also through means of deception and withholding
information, and/or via their body language, etc. Many of these people are so
trapped in sin that they deceive themselves in varied ways into believing that
they are not really trapped, and/or they excuse away their behavior and even
their lies. The only alternative is to be honest, forthcoming, and to admit
what they don’t want to have brought into the light, and so they remain in the
darkness, oftentimes believing their own lies and living in worlds of make-believe.
People who live a lie, too, will oftentimes have a hard time separating truth
from lies. [See Titus 3:3-8.]
Save Me
The psalmist called upon God to save him from lying lips and
from deceitful tongues. I am practically sure that the psalmist was referring
to those who were slandering him, i.e. to those who were speaking falsely
against him for the intention to bring him harm and to destroy his reputation,
so he was calling upon God in prayer for some type of deliverance. He may have
been seeking some kind of justice, i.e. that the truth would come forward and
that he would be exonerated, all in God’s perfect timing. Or, perhaps he was
asking that the Lord would give him peace within his heart, and that he would
trust the Lord even in his time of distress at the onslaught of lies being
perpetrated against him. Either way, he called upon the Lord in his distress
over the lies, and he put his life in God’s capable hands.
Perhaps this is the situation some of us may be facing, too,
and so we are calling upon God to intervene in some way, either in bringing the
truth to light and/or in giving us inner peace so that we might have faith in
God that he will work all things out according to his will and purposes and for
our good – for those who love him and who have been called according to his
purpose. Maybe we are not being slandered against, though, but we are being
lied to (cheated, betrayed, etc.), and pertinent information is purposefully
being withheld from us. Possibly the perpetrators of the lies are those closest
to us, which makes it more personal and painful, or perchance they are more
distant, such as politicians, salespeople, etc. Either way, when people
willfully lie to us they are treating us unkindly and with disdain. And, if
they lie to us to cover up other evil behavior they are involved in behind our
backs, then the lies are just compounded by what we know or suspect may be
behind the lies, and thus the hurt goes even deeper. And, so we must pray for
healing of mind and emotion, i.e. for deliverance from the impact of the lies
upon us.
Or, it could be that we have a habit of telling lies
ourselves, and so we need deliverance from that habit. I believe lies are usually
characteristic of something more serious going on inside our hearts, i.e. we
lie because we don’t want people to know the truth about us, or because we are
covering up other sins we don’t want exposed, or because we purposefully intend
to deceive others so as to accomplish some evil and wicked scheme we have going
on. Maybe we are not habitual liars, though, but sometimes we give in to the
temptation to tell a lie out of fear, and so we must pray and ask the Lord to
save us from our own lying tongues, i.e. to bring us to a place of faith and
trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, first of all, and then
to allow the Spirit of God to do his work of transformation in our hearts. This
heart change of the Spirit of God involves our cooperation, our submission, our
yielding, and our doing what he says to do in his power and strength within us.
Another aspect of God saving us from lying tongues,
including our own, is that we must guard our own minds and hearts against such
things by watching carefully the things we willfully take into our ears, minds,
eyes and hearts. Some things we are exposed to are beyond our control, such as
the psalmist suggested. Many others are not. We tend to become like those we
are around, or we tend to become like those we give honor to in our associations
and in our entertainment choices. Instead of enjoying the company of those who
practice sin, or instead of being entertained by sinful practices of others
(even though acted out), we should feel hatred toward sinful practices and
should be grieved over the sins of others instead of tolerating and/or applauding
their performances, and we should be moved to expose what is sinful instead. We
should be so grieved over sin that we are moved to compassion toward the sinner
and desire nothing more than to share the love of God’s saving grace with them
so that they, too, can be set free! Amen!
The Letters / An
Original Work / December 17, 2013
Based off Revelation 2-3
To the angels of all
the churches write:
These are the words of
your Lord and your God.
I know all your deeds,
and your witness, too,
And who holds to My
words and tells what’s true.
I know all your hard
work and your perseverance,
Yet I hold against
you: you’ve forsaken Me.
Listen to what I say
to you.
You have people there
who deny My name,
And who put the cross
of Christ up to shame.
They entice the people
to Me, profane,
And their worship of
Me is all in vain.
They are so adult’rous
as they chase their idols,
And you put up with
them easily enough.
Listen to what I say
to you.
You give off an image
of godliness,
But what you present
is so fraudulent,
Or else you lack
passion for Jesus Christ,
So you look to others
to tell what’s right.
I say turn from your
sin, or you will face judgment.
He who overcomes will
have eternal life.
Listen to what I say
to you.
I know your
afflictions and poverty;
How you suffer for
your Lord patiently.
Do not fear the devil
and company.
You be faithful to
your Lord endlessly.
I know all your weakness
and your dedication.
You have kept My Word
and not denied your Lord.
I will write on you My
new name.
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