“Teachers often teach that which they need to learn themselves. I am no different.” Amen.
My hope is that I – and we together – can tame our unruly tongues. My prayer is that God would reveal to me the ways I use my words that are not right – and give me the power and the perseverance to do BETTER. I want to learn to speak the right words, in the right season, and for the right reason… And banish the sarcastic, screaming mom persona from my life forever – ha.
So here we are, Day 1 – The Lying Tongue.
The Lord detests lying lips, but He delights in men who are truthful. Prov 12:22
There are 3 categories of lies discussed in this chapter: (1) Deceit, the outright lie, (2) the Half Truth, and (3) Exaggeration.
There are also 3+ reasons given why people lie: For financial gain, for social gain, and to hide something. Did you notice the comment (pg.13), “Engaging in deceitfulness is a slap in God’s face… When we make a choice not to TRUST Him to handle a situation, we decide that He is a liar and will renege on His promise to meet every need.” So lying equals not trusting in God for something. I’d never thought of it that way.
Famous Liars in the Bible – Who comes to mind?
– Eve (Gen 3) – She was the first one my husband mentioned when I asked… thank you, hubby.
– Ananais and Sapphira (Acts 5) – A half truth for financial gain, and God struck them dead on the spot. Yikes!
– Jacob (Gen 27) – Tricking Isaac to get Esau’s birthright, and a whole hosts of other lies… He had some issues.
– Jacob’s sons Simeon and Levi (Gen 34) – Who lied to the men of Shechem and slaughtered them, and their family lines lost their land inheritance because of it (Gen 49:5-7). Walkin’ in their father’s shoes.
– What about Achan (Joshua 7)? – Who hid the spoils of war under his tent, financial gain! And his whole family got stoned to death, not to mention the Israelites who died in the defeat at Ai because of the sin in the camp…
– Or Gehazi, Elisha’s trusted servant ( 2 Kings 5)? – Who lied to gain some silver and robes, and was cursed with Namaan’s leprosy for many generations…
Which type of lie is the biggest temptation for you? And why? Other thoughts on this first chapter?
—-
30 Days to Taming Your Tongue, a Bible study by Deborah Pegues
Mindy Clemons 
My challenge is exaggerating – I like to be the entertaining storyteller… I was caught by the plea to “resist the urge to be the center of attention by engaging in this form of lying”. Sigh.
Ditto, Mindy. I love to tell a good story and I do exaggerate sometimes to make it all the funnier. Wow – that day was a wakeup call to me.
I was just struck by the idea that an exaggerater loses credibility over time.
In our culture we say that “little white lies” are OK if you have a good reason. Like Peter to the maiden, servant of the high priest, who asked him if he was one of Jesus’ disciples and he said, “I am not.” just to stay out of trouble. No such thing as a white lie.
I guess that goes back to not trusting God. Wonder how Peter’s story would’ve changed if he’d said yes.
The affirmation at the end of the day is quite a tall order! Woo only through the Lord is that possible!