Trust God - Tell the Truth!

What causes us to shade the truth? We don't tell the truth when we believe little white lies, or harmless exaggerations offer protection from the buzzards of pain, rejection, rebuke, or the threat of insignificance. When those buzzards are circling our circumstance, we are compelled to hide the truth.

Then when we get caught, the excuse always boils down to a lack of trust in our circumstances, our environment, or the people involved.

Abraham, the father of our faith, twice found himself in a situation where he felt vulnerable because of the beauty of his wife Sarah and both times he felt the need to lie about their relationship.

Remember the first time he went to Egypt? He decided that since she was so good looking, the Egyptians would kill him so that Pharaoh could have her-talk about circling buzzards. So he lied to protect himself. Again in Genesis 20 it is the same song different verse. Abraham moved to Gerar to live in the kingdom of Abimelech. One more time he told Sarah to say that she was his sister instead of his wife. When God told Abimelech not to touch her or he was as good as dead, the King sent for Abraham and asked him, "What are you doing dude? Are you trying to get me killed? What did I ever do to you?"

Abraham's answer is telling, "I said to myself, 'Surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.'" (Genesis 20:11). In essence, what Abraham said was that he didn't trust Abimelech's walk with God, so he lied about Sarah to protect himself. And while that must have certainly felt true, Abimelech's walk wasn't the problem!

The issue was Abraham's walk! If Abraham had fully trusted God, then he would have been able to speak the truth and trust that the God would cover him.

The reality is that when we hide, shade, or exaggerate the truth; we aren't protecting our weaknesses, we are exposing them. Lying actually demonstrates that we don't trust God and that our wellbeing is completely dependent upon our ability to control our circumstances and our acquaintances.

The next time your vulnerability compels you to manipulate the truth, remember that the God of truth is our refuge...

"The name of the LORD is a strong tower;the righteous run to it and are safe." (Proverbs 18:10)