Today’s Blog: Is there an escape?

TODAY’S PROVERBS: A false witness will not go unpunished; one who breathes lies will not escape. Proverbs 19:5, TLV

Did you notice? Today’s proverb is repeated again in verse 9, except the one who breathes lies will perish. Anytime a concept is repeated, God wants us to take particular notice of this precept. False witness is repeated seven times in Proverbs. And at least 18 times throughout scripture. So, what does that mean? Our Father is serious about this.

For whatever reason, the Holy Spirit seems to keep bringing up these verses about honesty, integrity, and lying the last few days. As uncomfortable as it is for you, my dear readers, it goes double for me. Not only must I examine my own heart, but I must also bite the bullet and share the “wealth” of discomfort.

These posts have generated some interesting conversations — virtual and in real-life. Why? Because I believe the Lord may be telling us to take special note.

A dear friend and I spoke about it yesterday. What if we let the white lies go? What if we bear no accountability for the lies we tell to save a life? Then perhaps we become a false witness to integrity.

What do I mean by accountability to a lie told to save a life? Most of us probably think of Corrie ten boom and her family. There are also the Hebrew midwives who lied to Pharoah’s soldiers (Exodus 1) and Rahab (Joshua 2:5) who lied to protect Joshua and Caleb. In the case of the midwives and Rahab, God blessed them. In the case of the ten Booms, many died.

Accountability means to me that whether for a worthy cause or not, our lying must be seen as an act of sin. What we say is false. If this is an act of sin, then we must repent. Repenting means our Father will forgive us. The lie needs to cost us or it will be too easy to do it again.

I guess, I would rather repent for the altruistic lie as an act of obedience, then spend energy defending it. Does that make sense?

Here’s where it gets tricky

I’m discovering within these conversations with others that by knowing certain lies are acceptable, it has given some permission to justify speaking those “little” lies in non-life threatening or offensive situations. As believers we need to be sticklers for the truth. Especially in the world of social media posts and sharing.

If we don’t take the time to verify a post as truth, then don’t comment or share. Even if the post warms our heart or makes us angry and elicits strong responses from us. Otherwise, if the post is inaccurate — even in the slightest way — we’ve become a false witness on its behalf.

“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander.”

JESUS, MATTHEW 15:19, TLV

It’s complicated, isn’t it? But, I believe we all need to be real and seek the heart of our Father. Let the Holy Spirit examine our hearts for any issues concealing our need to defend ourselves in this area. And that’s always a good thing.

May we be true witnesses, my friends.

Proverbs 19:5 Tree of Life Bible Society, Tree of Life Version – TLV, #tlvbible, #tlvproverbs

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