Remove from me the way of lying: And grant me thy law graciously (Psa 119.29).

Everyone lies, or so it seems. Surely we all suffer strong temptations to lie, and sometimes we cave. However, just as with all other sins, there are two kinds of people in this. Some are slaves to lying and never really repent. Both deliberately and without thinking much about it, they use lies in their daily lives because they believe it is easier and will bring them more happiness. They are at peace with deceit, even defending it as right and necessary under certain circumstances. The other kind of people are oriented toward truth. They hate lying even while struggling against this sin in their own lives. One of the main weapons in their arsenal against lying is prayer. By the way, the first group is lost (Rev 21.8) and only real Christians are in the second.

The conventional and worldly wisdom comes from and pleases the first group. An article in Psychology Today describes lying as a “harmless social lubricant,” useful for lessening “interpersonal friction.” It speculates that “perhaps our social lives would collapse under the weight of relentless honesty.” It exonerates liars as “not guilty.” It says, “The picture of lying that has emerged in recent years [i.e., the consensus of modern and ungodly psychologists—DSM] is far more favorable than that suggested by its biblical ‘thou shalt not’ status.” Notice this brazen attack on the biblical standard. At least these anti-biblical psychologists recognize that Scripture takes a very dim view of lying, while some Christians, ironically, plead for lying as a moral duty in some cases.

With this popular attitude, the war for consistent personal integrity is lost before it even begins. Right-thinking Christians abominate this kind of carnal pragmatism. The Scriptures clearly advocate truth-telling and condemn lying under any and all circumstances. That is why

True Christians beg God to save them from lying ways.

LAMENTING MY LIES

“Remove from me the way of lying” is subtly figurative. “The way of lying” is a course or lifestyle of deceit. In this context it refers to habitual conduct, but that does not imply that the psalmist accepts the occasional “lie of necessity,” because he prays God would remove him from this way, “take him from a place in order to take him to another location” (NOAD). “Keep me far from the way of deceit” (NJB); “put false ways far from me” (ESV). David is praying, in effect, “As I live my life, Lord, be separating me far, far away from the pathway of deceivers; let me not even draw near to it.” This is tantamount to praying, “Save me completely from any and all lying; let there never ever be one single lie in my mouth.” This sentiment is noble and godly, worthy of our full embrace. We should be praying the very same way.

It may shock you to read this in a prayer of the man after God’s own heart, even David, because it implies that he had been guilty of lying in the past. It also implies that David knew he was vulnerable to lying even as the king of Israel writing this psalm under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit! Indeed, as Puritan John Trapp put it so bluntly, lying was

a sin that David, through diffidence [distrust; here, in God—DSM] fell into frequently. See 1 Sam 21.2, 8, where he roundly [openly, boldly—Webster] tells three or four lies; and the like he did, 2 Sam 27.8, 10: this evil he saw by [in the sense of near—DSM] himself, and here prays against it (in loc.).

Matthew Henry in his commentary similarly exposes and condemns David’s lying on these occasions, helpfully tying it into the stress of his being persecuted (cf. 119.22-23, 28).

David was conscious to himself of a proneness to this sin; he had, in a strait [i.e., a tight spot—DSM], cheated Ahimelech (1 Sam 21.2) and Achish (21.13; 27.10). Great difficulties are great temptations to palliate [disguise the seriousness or gravity of an offense, NOAD] a lie with the color of a pious fraud and a necessary self-defense; therefore David prays that God would prevent him from falling into this sin any more, lest he should settle in the way of it. A course of lying, of deceit and hypocrisy, is that which every good man dreads and which we are all concerned to beg of God by his grace to keep us from (in loc.).

It has been well-said, “Sow a thought and reap an act. Sow an act and reap a habit. Sow a habit and reap a character. Sow a character and reap a destiny.” The New Testament has a great proof text against the specious “lie of necessity,” in that this verse is completely unqualified and unambiguous in its insistence that we speak the truth and only the truth when we speak at all.

Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another (Eph 4.25).

Kenneth Wuest emphasizes the thought of the Greek verb tense by translating, “Wherefore, having put off the lie once for all, be speaking truth each with his neighbor.” Similarly, the ESV strikes a note of finality: “having put away falsehood.” Paraphrasing a little, the NJB says, “So from now on, there must be no more lies.” What could be plainer?

None of us can lay claim to perfect sinlessness in this matter, but we must examine our attitudes and the direction of our lives. Do I hate even the slightest deceit in my speech and conduct? Do I prize truth-telling as a highly-desirable virtue? Do I yearn to be like Jesus Christ who never lied, not even once, not even when under the greatest threats to His body and soul, and who says to us in His holy Word, “I am the truth . . . no man cometh unto the Father but by me” (John 14.6)? If such is our attitude by the grace of regeneration, we will sympathize with godly David’s prayer and adopt it as our own, that God will remove us far from the way of lying.

LONGING FOR GOD’S TRUTH

For centuries scholars have considered a few competing interpretations of the second phrase, “grant me thy law graciously,” but there appears to be no more accurate rendering than in the Authorized Version (KJV). Calvin wrote that “these [alternative] meanings appear to me forced; and, therefore, I am more disposed to adopt another, freely grant to me thy law. . . . One can say in the French, give me gratuitously” (in loc.). The sense is that David is asking God for instruction by His Word of truth on the basis of grace alone (sola gratia).

Calvin also noted how inconsistent such a prayer is with the false doctrine of Romanism, “that an increase of grace is awarded to merit as deserving it,” because David had for some time previous served God, and yet he appeals to God’s unmerited favor as the grounds for his petition.

This request on the basis of grace alone also fits perfectly with the confession of David’s previous lies and his proneness to deceitful ways. God’s Word which condemns liars also instructs the penitent how to bring our lives into ever closer conformity with its lofty demands. It is by close attention to every part of God’s Word that we learn to trust Him in adversity, to discern the idols of our hearts that lead us into sinful compromise, to appreciate the Lord Jesus Christ in His ineffable purity, and to keep motivating us in the dogged pursuit of pristine virtue.

The notes of the great 1599 Geneva Bible, appreciated so much by our Puritan forefathers, interpret Psa 119.29 this way,

Instruct me in your word, by which my mind may be purged from vanity and taught to obey your will (in loc.).

This is the note of prayerful Bible study we have considered so many times before. It is not enough that we should grasp intellectually the message of the Bible, though that is much needed as a foundation of all true godliness. We must be coming to the open Book upon our knees, knowing that without God’s grace and help, it will remain spiritually closed to us as those with such a sinful aversion to TRUTH. God must open our eyes and transform our hearts if we would really see and love the way of gospel holiness, embracing it as our own. Prayer is one of the most important means of grace in attaining this blessing of life-changing spiritual illumination.

Would you pray right now as David did so long ago? “Remove from me the way of lying: and grant me thy law graciously.” Never sign a truce with the Devil, the father of lies. Always be praying and battling to purge your life completely of all vestiges of this remaining sin, and one day God, by His grace alone, will complete the good work He has begun in you. Amen.

All rights reserved.