Lies - a 3,000-year-old prayer

Help, O LORD, for the godly are fast disappearing! The faithful have vanished from the earth! Neighbours lie to each other, speaking with flattering lips and deceitful hearts. May the LORD cut off their flattering lips and silence their boastful tongues. They say, “We will lie to our hearts’ content. Our lips are our own—who can stop us?” The LORD replies, “I have seen violence done to the helpless, and I have heard the groans of the poor. Now I will rise up to rescue them, as they have longed for me to do.” The LORD’s promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over. Therefore, LORD, we know you will protect the oppressed, preserving them forever from this lying generation, even though the wicked strut about, and evil is praised throughout the land. (Psalm 12 New Living Translation)

Britain’s former Prime Minister is still under investigation for possible lying to Parliament. Before being appointed he promoted Brexit using lies. This week a radio host in the US was ordered to pay 965 million US dollars to grieving parents after 10 years falsely maintaining that a school massacre never took place at all. Every one of the billions of cells that make up a human body carries a marker stating whether that person is male or female. But many strongly maintain that that fact is lie. Another facet of this black diamond (carbon is everywhere) is the constantly repeated claims of advertisers about their products and services. Celebrities are paid handsomely by “deceitful hearts” to endorse with “flattering lips” things which are often, at best, half-truths. Around 1000 BC, King David of Israel wrote something (above in full) which Vladimir Putin may well be telling himself: “We will lie to our hearts’ content. Our lips are our own—who can stop us?” 3,000 years ago, that same King believed that the LORD, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, would reply (above): “I have seen violence done to the helpless, and I have heard the groans of the poor. Now I will rise up to rescue them, as they have longed for me to do.” That is the prayer of many of us.
“Neighbours lie to each other…” Why do we lie to our neighbours, to our wives, partners, children, bosses and employees? Why do they lie to us?	.
Is it “to gain”, including “to cover over the gain I should not have gained”? Is that the reason why there is today endemic deceit in the world? Is that why deceit has been on earth since before 1000 BC? “To gain and to cover.” Taking this a step further, why is everybody, in seeking “to gain and to cover”, prepared to lie to their neighbour? Can anything be done, in a world where all 8 billion inhabitants are trying “to gain and to cover”, to eliminate the deceit and lies? Actually, several things are being attempted. One of these is “transparency”. If things are made publicly available people will not lie so much because they may well be found out. Hence, for instance, the Registers of Interests required of politicians. But that’s not perfect. Then there are the “regulators” and “inspectors” – people paid to watch over the actions of others so as to ensure that right is really done and not just said to be done – and wrong is not done. But that’s not perfect. Then there are “oaths”. Documents produced in court are required to be accompanied by affidavits – statements sworn on oath. But that’s not perfect. There’s also “detection”. Detectives try to discover marital infidelity. Auditors try to ensure that company accounts are “true and fair”. But that’s not perfect. In fact, a great deal of expense is incurred to pay for imperfect attempts to deal with deceit across the globe. Such expenses include the enormous cost of spy networks which are themselves, of course, deceitful. Fancy that: human beings need to deceive in order to uncover deceit.
The only true answer to this problem is in the above prayer. It’s in two parts.	.
The LORD’s promises are pure, like silver refined in a furnace, purified seven times over. Pure promises. Without any deceit whatsoever. Therefore, LORD, we know you will protect the oppressed, preserving them forever from this lying generation, even though the wicked strut about, and evil is praised throughout the land. The LORD’s promises are not only for the future. They’re for the here and now, during our time in this deceitful world. These promises include the protection of the oppressed who turn to the eternal LORD from lying, the strutting wicked and evil itself.

Sinner Syvret

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