February 27 - Liars and Fools
The Book of Proverbs is filled with words of wisdom, it reveals the matters of the human heart and brings us to a fear of the Lord. I often find much help from my own self-understanding and the understanding of others. There are only two kinds of persons in this world, those who have a healthy fear of the Lord and those who do not. The former is called “righteous” and the latter, “wicked”. The righteous walks in God’s presence, his every thought, decision and word from his mouth are the result of God being there with him. He never does anything apart from God’s presence.
The wicked lives his own life apart from God, he is presumptuous and obeys his own instinct, thought and feeling. He is self-centered and God has no place in what he thinks, says and does. Life is all self-efforts, relying on his own strength and wisdom, refusing to listen to God and seek His help. The Book of Proverbs often compares and contrasts these two very different lifestyles, trying to prove that life with God is much better than life without God.
Liars and fools are different manifestations of being wicked. A wicked person harbors much hate and bitterness towards others but he tries to hide them by telling lies. In an effort to conceal his own feelings, he speaks falsehood so others cannot tell what he really is. Deep hatred and the lying tongue and close allies, when you see one, you see the other.
Fools are those who openly slander others. They try to create a false impression about others by defaming them. People like to gossip with overblown facts and much exaggerations. These are lies as well. When we make judgments on others, we do not have full knowledge and often times fall into the sin of lying. Speaking falsehood to cover our hatred is lying about ourselves while slandering is lying about others. Both are deceptive.
When one lives apart from God, the first thing we fall into is deception. Satan is the father of lies and when one is not truthful, he has become the child of the devil. The biggest lie is the lie about our innocence, saying that we have not sinned. When we condone lies, we cannot go before the Lord in good conscience. Lies cover the sins in our lives like hatred and anger. They make us look better in the sight of others. When we slander others, we make ourselves more righteous than they are. Both are elevating the self through deceit.
Are you a liar and a fool? Are you truthful to yourself and to others? Are you hiding any sins from other people? Do you gossip and slander others around you? If so, you are living apart from God’s presence. Seek God today and live in His presence.
Ps 32:6-11 Lev 20:22-22:16 Mark 9:1-29 Prov 10:18