My deceptions were never as far reaching as the one we are about to cover, but I have feigned sickness so as not to go to school and I have  not always told the full story in order to get what I wanted as a child.  It’s not what you say, it’s what you don’t say! The trouble is, we still think that deception is the best way of getting what we want.

Deception is an act or statement which misleads, hides the truth, promotes a belief, concept, or idea that is not true. It is often done for personal gain or advantage and can be found in church life. Why is a puzzle.

David who used deception against Uriah, now experiences it for himself.

Now Joab the son of Zeruiah knew that the king’s heart went out to Absalom. 2 Samuel 14:1

Absalom was determined to overthrow his father David and David was distraught at the loss of relationship with his son. Absalom is in exile and Joab feels this is of no value to the kingdom. Three years have passed since Absalom murdered Amnon and Joab has a plan that involves a lady. Joab is looking after himself as he thinks,  If I can win over Absalom now, when he becomes King then my future and position will be secure and, in order to secure that, a little deception will be required. He finds himself a lady to help him and she goes and deceives the King.

 This lady pretends she has two sons, one son has killed the other son (vs 2-6). It’s a set up, it’s the same story as what happened between Amnon and Absalom. The story continues,

And now the whole clan has risen against your servant, and they say, ‘Give up the man who struck his brother, that we may put him to death for the life of his brother whom he killed.’ And so they would destroy the heir also. Thus they would quench my coal that is left and leave to my husband neither name nor remnant on the face of the earth.” 2 Samuel 14:7

David doesn’t really want to spend much time on this and tries to get rid of her “Go to your house, and I will give orders concerning you.” (vs 8) but the lady knows why she is there and what she is trying to achieve so she pushes David harder. So David tells her that if anyone troubles her then he will deal with the trouble maker (vs 9-10). She knows this is still not the outcome she is after so pushes David even further, so David now swears an oath that her son will be protected. A promise was one thing but an oath was at another level. Having got this far the lady then goes for the kill.

Then the woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.” He said, “Speak.” And the woman said, “Why then have you planned such a thing against the people of God? For in giving this decision the king convicts himself, inasmuch as the king does not bring his banished one home again. 2 Samuel 14:12-13

Her suggestion is that the whole nation is suffering because of David’s treatment of his son and that God is merciful therefore so should he be (vs 14).

She has got her point in so, in the following verses, she goes back to her story and flatters the king calling him an “angel of God” (vs 17). David does spot something is amiss and eventually sees that this is the work of Joab but does allow Absalom back into the court (vs 21-24) and Joab’s  deception has meant he has now got what he wanted.

So why do we deceive? There are countless answers no doubt, but I want to focus on just three.

One reason we lie is that we simply don’t trust the truth to get us what we want. In fact, telling the truth may be costly and painful and lead to hardships we’d rather avoid.  We might be found out. Perhaps the underlying problem is telling the truth will just cost us too much 

Secondly, another related factor is power. People frequently deceive to gain an advantage over others that would rarely, if ever, occur had they chosen to be honest and humble. This power-grab may be in the form of authority in the local church or a promotion at work or prestige amongst one’s peers regardless of age or context. Why then is such power so appealing that it would prompt one to lie to gain it? The answer is simply because we’ve bought into the false belief that personal value and worth is based on the perception of others and the sort of achievement that wins the applause and approval of society at large. If our identity were more wholly wrapped up in Christ and who we are in him then we would be less tempted to deceive to gain from people what only He can give.

Thirdly, we deceive to protect ourselves from whatever embarrassment the truth might bring. The truth would expose us in our weakness and sinfulness and failure. So, we deceive to make ourselves appear to others to be different from what we really are. People are terrified that if those whose respect and acceptance they can’t live without were to see them stripped of every façade and false front, they would suffer irreparable loss.

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practice. 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3:9-10

We dress ourselves with our new selves which includes not lying to each other and not deceiving each other. Why? Because our old self reflects the father of lies but our new self of honesty and truth is in the image of God.