Psalm 120:1-7 ( The start of the Ascent Songs)
The essence of sin is a lie. Lies are not often seen, but they have their subtle way of decaying the heart. We need help, we need deliverance from the lying lips, and especially our own. The tongue is restless, is deadly – writes James (see James 3:7-8) The tongue is like poison, like a wildfire that rips through a person’s character, a family or a community and tears it apart.
Man can tame animal, birds and fish, but when it comes to the tongue he needs divine grace and help. We have tried and failed when it comes to ‘getting rid’ of lying. We end up lying to lie. We lie to ourselves, we lie to others and what is more frightening – we lie to God.
Lies started in the garden and can carry the man to the grave, let that not be us, my friend. Can we begin today with the psalmist by asking, pleading and praying to God to deliver us from the lying lips, our own first? Shalom