Memory Verse: - “Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight.” - Proverbs 12:22 (KJV)
In a recent lesson, we established that God delights in those who are upright, and that a froward heart - the heart that is twisted, contrary, and bent away from God, is an abomination to Him (Proverbs 11:20). That lesson pressed upon us the importance of living uprightly before God, not merely in the broad strokes of life but in the settled orientation of the heart.
Today we continue in the same vein, looking at a second dimension of the Lord's delight - and the second thing that is abomination to Him. The two are placed side by side in Proverbs 12:22, and the contrast between them is as sharp and clear as it was in Proverbs 11:20. Let us consider the passage:
“Lying lips are abomination to the Lord: but they that deal truly are his delight.” - Proverbs 12:22 (KJV)
It is worth pausing on the word "abomination" before moving on. In Scripture, this is not a casual term. It describes something that God does not merely dislike or find inconvenient - it describes something that is deeply repugnant to His nature. In Proverbs 6:16–19, lying lips appear in the list of seven things that God hates, things called abominations to Him. The repeated use of this language across the wisdom literature is not accidental. It is designed to produce in the reader a settled, serious awareness: God does not treat dishonesty lightly, and neither should we.
Now, people do not generally see their own lies in this way. It is far more common for a person to minimise what they say when it is not true, to find reasons and contexts that seem to justify the departure from honesty. There is the lie told to escape punishment - the instinctive denial of something one has clearly done, because the truth carries a consequence one would rather not face. There is the so-called “white lie,”framed as kindness or tact, told to spare someone's feelings or to smooth over an awkward situation. There are the half-truths, the careful omissions, the strategically worded statements that are technically accurate but designed to create a false impression. People have constructed elaborate justifications for each of these, saying that they are harmless, that they serve a good purpose, and that no reasonable God could object to them.
But the Scripture does not offer these justifications any ground. It does not say lying lips are an abomination unless the lie was small, or well-intentioned, or told in a moment of pressure. It says lying lips are abomination to the Lord - full stop. God, who is truth by nature and whose Word is truth in its entirety (John 17:17), is not delighted by any departure from truth, whatever form that departure takes. The nature of the justification does not alter the nature of the act.
This connects directly to what we saw in our previous lesson on Proverbs 12:17: speaking truth is the evidence of a righteous nature at work within a person. Conversely, lying lips reveal a nature that has not yet been fully yielded to God. This is why Jesus, in John 8:44, described the devil as the father of lies, saying that there is no truth in him and that lying is native to his character. Deception has a father, and it is not God. The believer who has been born of God - who carries the divine nature and is indwelt by the Spirit of truth (John 16:13) - has every reason, and every resource, to live in truthfulness.
And here the passage turns. From the abomination, it pivots to the delight. “But they that deal truly are his delight.” Those who deal truly are those whose words are reliable, whose yes means yes and whose no means no (Matthew 5:37). They are those who tell the truth when it is costly, who do not shade their words for personal advantage, who are honest in their dealings with people - in business, in relationship, in worship, in private and in public alike. These people are the Lord's delight.
Notice that the passage does not say those who deal truly are merely acceptable to the Lord, or tolerated, or approved. It says they are His delight. This is the same word used of the upright in Proverbs 11:20 - a word that carries warmth, pleasure, and joy. God is not merely satisfied with the person who deals truly; He takes genuine pleasure in them. Their prayers rise before Him with favour. Their lives reflect His own character back to Him.
So the question this passage presses upon every believer is not a complicated one. It is simply this: are you the Lord's delight? Not in every area at once - that would be a different and longer conversation - but here, in this specific matter of truthfulness. Do your words deal truly?
May the Lord work this grace deeply into our hearts. Amen.
Daily Reflection
There is something revealing about the categories Proverbs 12:22 uses. It does not contrast "big liars" with "honest people." It contrasts lying lips with those who deal truly - a phrase that is comprehensive and active. To deal truly is not simply the absence of lying. It is a positive, consistent, wholehearted orientation toward truth in all one's dealings. It describes a person whose whole manner of engaging with others - in conversation, in commerce, in commitment - is characterised by integrity.
This raises a question worth sitting with honestly: are there areas in your life where you deal less than truly? Not perhaps in obvious or dramatic ways, but in the small negotiations of daily life - the exaggerated excuse, the softened version of events told to put yourself in a better light, the commitment made with no real intention of keeping it, the silence maintained when speaking the truth would have served someone better?
God's standard here is not perfection without grace. He has made provision for our failures, as we saw in 1 John 2:1 - we have an advocate. But His standard for the direction of our lives is clear: He delights in those who deal truly. Not those who merely avoid the most obvious lies, but those who have made truthfulness a settled way of life.
Ask the Lord today to make you that kind of person - not by your own effort, but through the work of His Spirit of truth in you.
“The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.” (Psalm 145:18)
Prayer Session
Heavenly Father, I come before You today mindful that You are a God of truth - that every word You have spoken is true, that Your nature is entirely without deception, and that You take genuine delight in those whose lives reflect that same quality of truthfulness. I want to be among those people. I want to be Your delight.
Lord, I confess that I have not always dealt truly. There have been moments when I chose the easier path of a partial truth, a softened account, or an outright falsehood - moments when honesty felt too costly, too uncomfortable, or too inconvenient. I bring those moments before You today and ask Your forgiveness. Cleanse me by the blood of Jesus, and let the accuser have no ground against me in this area.
By Your Spirit - who is Himself the Spirit of truth, work in me a genuine, settled love for truthfulness. Let it govern my speech, my dealings, my commitments, and my conduct before others. Where there are patterns of dishonesty that have become comfortable or habitual, expose them by Your Word and uproot them by Your grace.
Help me to be a person whose words can be trusted, whose yes means yes, and whose life reflects the character of a God who does not lie. And where being truthful costs me something - whether comfort, approval, advantage, give me the courage to pay that price willingly, knowing that what I gain in Your delight is worth infinitely more than what I lose.
In Jesus' name. Amen.
Gospel Today is a comforting, exhorting, edifying, and inspiring devotional published by The New Man Media. For questions, inquiries, or testimonies, please contact us here.
Post a Comment
Please drop a comment and use the Social Media Buttons below to share to friends and family.