Why Would You Lie?

Scripture: Numbers 13:32-33 – “So they brought to the Israelites an unfavorable report of the land that they had spied out, saying, ‘The land that we have gone through as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great size. There we saw the Nephilim (the Anakites come from the Nephilim), and to ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.’” (NRSVUE)

I think many of us have been in a situation when someone tells an obvious lie to you. You go downstairs and see a missing piece of cake and your child covered in frosting and crumbs. When you ask them, “Did you take a piece of cake?” They say, “No!”, despite all the very clear evidence to the contrary. Why would someone do something like this?

Part of it is power, seeing what you can get away with. Some liars may actually struggle in realizing the difference between truth and fiction. But I think most people lie because they are afraid. The cake kid wants to avoid confrontation with their parents. They may be more worried about being yelled at in the short term than being punished in the long term. Lying is often more about flight than fight.

There is a very famous lie in the Bible. Right before the Israelites enter the Promised Land of Canaan, Moses sends a group of spies to cross the river and see what kind of people live there. They discover that the land does indeed flow with milk and honey, but there are also people there who are armed and strong. The two “good” spies, Caleb and Joshua, think that Israel can overcome them, especially with the help of God. But the others are worried. They don’t want to fight or change to do what it takes to get into the Promised Land. So, when they return to the people, the false spies say the people there are giants who can never be conquered. The people panic and demand to be taken back into slavery in Egypt. Instead of uniting over a common challenge, the people fracture. When groups of people focus more on fear than hope, they often sabotage what they are trying to accomplish.

Some of our lies of fear come from not wanting to change. Others come from not trusting an authority figure to help them through a problem rather than punishing them. And many lies are those we tell ourselves because we do not want to face the difficulties in our lives.

God knows when we are lying. God always sees the frosting on our faces. So, we must ask ourselves: do we approach our lives with fear or with faith? Do we trust God and the other people in our lives, or do sabotage ourselves trying to defend ourselves? This week, think about something you are afraid of: conflict, failure, consequences. Instead of formulating ways to get out of it, think about what it would mean to confront the problem head-on. And more importantly, think about how God can give you the courage to overcome your fears. The people in Canaan were never more than what Israel could handle as long as they put their trust in God. Let us trust God in the face of all our challenges.

Prayer: God, help me true to you and to myself, knowing that all things can be possible through you. Amen.

Image credit: Geoff Peters