A Hazardous Road
Psa. 119:19 – Remove from me the way of lying (KJV)
Scriptures provide a roadmap that helps us avoid life’s “broad way to destruction” (Matt. 7:13). One side street called “the way of lying” gives life’s travelers access to the broad way of destruction. The way of lying is a road full of hazards. It is a path where the rules of the road are determined by the travelers. Along this way, the deceiver becomes the deceived, the misleader becomes misled, and the cheater becomes the cheated. The way of this road is a deceiver’s delight; but an honest man who ventures onto this way does so at great risk to his soul. For the way of lying is a one-way street. The further one travels on it, the fewer opportunities he finds to turn off.
One cannot avoid “the way of lying” until his heart has been purged from the motive for lying. Like every deliberate action, lying must have a motive. People do not lie without reason. The saint who, in the integrity of his heart, asks the Lord to deliver him from the way of lying is asking the Lord to remove from him every motive for lying. But what could motivate a believer to stretch the truth at the expense of his spiritual well being? A believer who stretches the truth is more concerned with his image than his character. He is fearful of how the truth will affect the way he is viewed in the eyes of others. He must tamper with the truth in order to protect his image.
Being removed from the way of lying delivers us from the motive for lying and the means of lying. There are many methods by which lying may take place. Lying is no threat to the truth without a method of publicizing its misinformation. The method of lying is personality-dependent. This means that the lie is tailored to the strengths and weaknesses of its user. Methods of lying are so diverse that they can be embedded in questions, in compliments, in forms, interviews, and even in casual conversation. However, the engine that drives the methods of lying is mistrust. He is uneasy that things will not turn out to his satisfaction without some alteration of the facts.
The way of lying is a path paved with motives and methods for lying. But the psalmist knew that lying had many masks. For it is possible for lying to take place without the uttering of a single word. A purposefully deceiving facial gesture, handshake, or even a body stance can communicate deception. Where there is deceit in the spirit it will find an avenue of expression, if not in a word, then in an action (Prov. 6:13-14). Was not our Lord himself betrayed with a kiss (Matt. 26:48)? Deceitful gestures reflect the need to control. One who is susceptible to this kind of lying relies upon misleading in order to maintain dominance in a relationship. The psalmist knew the many footpaths that converged to make a wide street called the way of lying. He knew that a venture down the way of lying was a journey down a road to self-destruction.
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