“Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation…”
Psalm 25:5
Growing up one of my favorite things was spending Saturday nights with my grandma because she would allow me to stay up late to watch Perry Mason with her and my aunt. We’d try to figure out who was telling the truth, who was lying, and who was really guilty. We knew, of course, that Perry’s client was not the guilty one! I loved how that famous attorney could see through the lies and manipulate the guilty party into confessing and telling the truth.
A few summers ago, I was seated as one of fourteen jurors on a murder trial.
Once the trial began, it became quickly obvious that no one, including the defendant, was going to become so guilt-ridden that he or she would dramatically jump to their feet and tearfully confess to the murder. It was a real-life sordid story with no innocents involved, including the victim, and it was not going to conveniently wrap up in one hour like one of Perry Mason’s cases.
Right hand raised, each witness swore to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Each told their version of how the events unfolded the night of the crime. There was little agreement between the multiple accounts with the exception that all agreed a man was dead.
On the morning following closing arguments, I drove to the courthouse in downtown Detroit with mixed emotions. There was no doubt that the man on trial was involved in the murder, but whether he orchestrated the crime and deserved the life sentence that a guilty verdict would bring was hard to tell. I prayed that if I were one of the final twelve, God would show me the truth tangled in the web of lies that had been spun so tightly during the trial.
Arriving in the courtroom, I saw a large spinner drum filled with folded slips of white paper sitting on the court clerk’s desk. The judge instructed the clerk to spin the drum and pull the names of the two jurors who would become alternates. The moment the drum began to spin, I knew my name would be the first name selected and it was. I would not be one of the jurors deciding the final verdict and that was okay.
After deliberation was concluded and the verdict handed down by the jury, I received a call from the court bailiff releasing me from my alternate juror status. When I asked about the verdict, her answer was short, “Guilty on all counts.”
My courtroom experience reminded me about the heinous nature of lies. The sole purpose of a lie is to deceive, to create a false or misleading impression, to hide the truth.
We live in a culture of lies.
Lies abound.
Deceit flourishes giving birth to more lies.
Every day we face an endless onslaught of outright lies, creative fabrications, and half-truths that attack from all directions, attempting to draw us away from the life that God has intended for us. Sometimes it is easy to sort truth from lies, but there are times when the one telling the lies is so practiced and skillful that discerning truth is extremely difficult.
A recurring theme in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, is God’s relentless desire to fellowship and have a personal relationship with His image-bearers. In Genesis chapter three, we see that it was God’s practice to walk and talk with Adam and Eve in the cool of the evening, in the perfection of the beautiful garden of Eden created for His perfect creatures.
That perfect fellowship was shattered when the serpent filled Eve’s ears with lies and doubts. In tragic rebellion to her Creator, Eve listened to the serpent rather than to the voice of her Creator and His instructions for life in the Garden. She then invited Adam to join in her treasonous behavior and from that day until now, we are a people with ears too often filled with the lies of Satan, sin, and self instead of the truth of God.
Satan’s great deception in the Garden of Eden began with one question spoken by the serpent, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the Garden?’” (Genesis 3:1) One seemingly innocent question, one lie wrapped in a question.
One question deliberately twisted to misrepresent what God had said. How did the serpent know that God had given any command regarding the trees in the garden unless he heard the conversation? The serpent knew exactly what God had said, but by asking the question in this manner, he set Eve up for a terrible fall.
Lies give birth to more lies. Eve’s response to the serpent expanded beyond what God had said, “we can eat of all the trees of the Garden, except for the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, we cannot even touch it, if we do, we will die.” God never said to not touch the tree, God’s command was to not eat the fruit of the tree.
Once the serpent heard the lie in Eve’s reply, he pounced with the big lie. And Eve swallowed the deceitful bait, hook, line, and sinker; she took a bite and then offered the forbidden fruit to Adam. Eve was deceived by the serpent’s lie, but Adam knowingly and intentionally took the fruit and ate in an act of outright rebellion against God (1 Timothy 2:14). By that rebellious act, sin and death entered the world and the relationship with God was broken. (Romans 5:12)
The more practiced the liar, the more difficult it is to discern truth from lies. Regardless of where you are in your walk with Christ, you must be aware and stay alert for the lies that you WILL encounter; remembering always that your number one enemy is the “father of all lies.”
“…When he [Satan] lies, he speaks out of his own character,
for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
John 8:44
Many of the lies that fill the ears of believers begin as questions. Did God actually say that? Is that what the Bible really means? Can God forgive me for the awful things I’ve have done? How can God love someone like me? How could a loving God allow something so tragic to happen? Can I be sure that I am really saved? Isn’t that promise, instruction, teaching, or command specific to a particular: Culture? Time? Situation? Person? Is living for Christ worth it? Can I really believe what God says?
The list of possible lie-filled questions is endless. Each question is designed specifically for the target of Satan’s attack. Oh yes, with Satan it is all personal. He will look for your weak spots, the broken parts, the aching hurts, and the places where you spirit has been wounded – and that is exactly where he will focus his aim.
Satan will fill your ears with lies about God and His character; Satan will twist and distort the truth of Scripture, tangling parts and pieces of truth with outright lies in his attempts to deceive, confuse, and ensnare.
The Gospel of John records these words of Jesus spoken to the Pharisees:
“You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)
So, the bad news is that you are under attack by the father of all lies – no other liar even comes close. He does not just tell lies; liar describes the totality of his character. That is who he is.
Here is the good news – the greatest news, your God is the God of all Truth. He speaks the Truth. Truth describes His character. Truth is who He IS!
When you accepted God’s gift of salvation and eternal life purchased for you through the blood of Jesus Christ, Satan lost. Satan cannot have you. But he can and he will do everything in his power to keep your ears so filled with lies that you become deaf to God’s voice. He will steal your peace, your joy, your effectiveness; and he will keep you always questioning, off-balance, prone to stumbling, leading a life of defeat and disappointment if you are not alert, standing firm in your faith and holding fast to the God of all Truth.
Satan’s BIG LIE is this: Can you really trust what God says? Satan says: “You can trust me. Would I lie to you?”
GOD SAYS: “I AM the LORD GOD;
I AM the AUTHOR of ALL TRUTH.”
GOD is not man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. (Numbers 23:19)
“…it is impossible for God to lie…” (Hebrews 6:18)
“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know HIM who is true; and we are in HIM who is true, in HIS Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20)
Who will you believe?
Will you choose to believe the one whose very name describes his character – the “father of all lies”?
Or will you believe Almighty God, Creator of the Universe, Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Lover of your Soul, the Giver of Life, the Author of All Truth, the One Who so loved you so much that He sent His Only Beloved Son to rescue you from eternal damnation by giving His very life to pay the penalty for your sin. (John 3:16)
“Teach me Your way, O LORD,
that I may walk in Your truth…”
Psalm 86:11