KEEP ME FROM DECEPTION
The Russian writer, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, spent eight years in the Gulag, after having the audacity to criticize Joseph Stalin in a personal letter. Speaking of the communists, he said, “We know they are lying, they know they are lying, they know we know they are lying, we know they know we know they are lying, but they are still lying.” Ironically, there appears to be some question as to whether this quote is properly attributed to Solzhenitsyn; it has been often repeated without identification of the source.
The power of propaganda is not to be taken lightly. It’s been said, “If you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it. And, if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.” At least, it does in the minds of those who believe the lie. Who knows, people may even come to believe that men can get pregnant.
Deception has been a part of our culture since the fall of man in the Garden of Eden, when the serpent deceived Eve and she ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:13). Since then, deception has not just been a part of our culture, but a part of our very hearts. Jeremiah 17:9 (NIV) makes this painstakingly clear: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure (or “desperately sick,” NASB). Who can understand it?”
“Heart in Scripture is used in various ways. Sometimes it means our reason or understanding, sometimes our affections and emotions, and sometimes our will. Generally, it denotes the whole soul of man and all its faculties, not individually, but as they all work together in doing good or evil. The mind as it reasons, discerns, and judges; the emotions as they like or dislike; the conscience as it determines and warns; and the will as it chooses or refuses—are all together called the heart” (Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness, 60-61). This heart—mind, emotions, conscience and will—is by nature deceitful above all things, and desperately sick. This is an unsavory but accurate description of the human heart without Christ and a harsh reality we must reckon with (Tit. 3:3).
John Owen speaks of the contradiction which takes place in one’s heart when enticed by sin: “The will chooseth not the good which the mind discovers; the affections delight not in that which the will chooseth; but all jar and interfere, cross and rebel against each other.… This, I say, makes the heart deceitful above all things; it agrees not at all in itself” (John Owen, The Works of John Owen, vol. 6, 173). The faculties of the heart are complex, often contradicting each other, and corrupt beyond human comprehension.
In Proverbs 30:7-8 (ESV), Agur prays, “Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me.” Agur has only two requests, and the first is for God to remove from him “falsehood and lying.” Literally, the Hebrew reads: “falsehood and lies remove far from me.” Agur could be asking God to keep him from lying and being a deceptive person. Or he could be asking God to keep lies and falsehood away from him, so he is not deceived. It’s worth wrestling with these two options, because while we usually recognize our need to be men and women of honesty and integrity, we often overlook our vulnerability to deception. When was the last time you prayed to be protected from falsehood and lies? Perhaps Agur is more aware of our susceptibility to deception than we are.
The dangers of deception are found throughout the Bible, which is why it contains numerous warnings about being deceived.
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. (Gal. 6:7-8 ESV)
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Cor. 6:9-10 ESV)
Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” (1 Cor. 15:33 ESV)
Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (Jam. 1:16-17 ESV)
Repeatedly, God says, “Do not be deceived.” Why? Let’s state the obvious: because we are in danger of being deceived.
Chapter 18 of 2 Chronicles provides a provocative picture of how God allows deception from the enemy to judge those who reject his truth.
Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead?” He answered him, “I am as you are, my people as your people. We will be with you in the war.” And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the LORD.” Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall we go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for God will give it into the hand of the king.” But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here another prophet of the LORD of whom we may inquire?” And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.” Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, “Bring quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah.”
. . . .
And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.” But Micaiah said, “As the LORD lives, what my God says, that I will speak.” And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I refrain?” And he answered, “Go up and triumph; they will be given into your hand.” But the king said to him, “How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?” And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the LORD said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.’” And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?” And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. And the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab the king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the LORD said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets. The LORD has declared disaster concerning you.” (vv. 3-8, 12-22 ESV)
Deception is allowed by God as judgment upon King Ahab for rejecting his Word, his truth. And, in fact, Ahab did end up being killed in battle. This principle is clearly spelled out in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 (ESV):
The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
God says, in essence, “You refuse to love the truth and be saved. Fine, I’ll send you wicked deception and a strong delusion.”
I could be wrong in thinking Agur’s prayer in Proverbs may refer to a petition for protection from being deceived. Nonetheless, the countless warnings related to deception and demonic opposition demonstrate that this would be an appropriate prayer.
The flipside to the prayer “keep me from deception” is “give me a love for your truth.” And loving the truth of God’s Word means obeying it. James wrote, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (Jam. 1:22-25 ESV). We are warned that if we merely listen to the Word without doing what it tells us to do, we deceive ourselves. But if we are “doers of the word” we will experience the blessing of God.
Jesus said to the Jews on one occasion, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (Jn. 8:31-32 NIV). Knowing the truth that sets us free from deception, which invariably manifests itself in many sinful actions, involves both listening and obeying.
So, if, like Agur, we were to bring only two requests to God, it seems that a prayer for God “to remove falsehood and lies far from me” would be a good one to include.
Copyright 2025,
Copyright 2025, By Every Word Foundation