Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputes no iniquity,
And in whose spirit there is no guile.
Psalm 32:2 [KJV]
There’s that word again: guile. We saw it in Revelation 14:5, where the redeemed are in heaven, standing upon the sea of glass, and “…in their mouth there is no guile.” Here we find it in the Old Testament, a blessing on those who have no guile. The meaning is the same in both Greek and Hebrew, though more vivid in the Greek: bait or decoy. When we want to catch something, we use bait: cheese on a mousetrap, worm on a fish hook, or meat on a bear trap. The bait is used to hide the destructive force it is attached to.
It works the same in human nature. Guile is trickery, craftiness, treachery = deceit. The psalm declares a person blessed, or happy, if they have no deceitfulness. Revelation proclaims that the saints in heaven simply do not have any. For individuals living in this complex, chaotic world, that is a very tall order.
What exactly is deceit?
- Deception, beguilement, deceit, bluff, mystification, and subterfuge are acts to propagate beliefs that are not true, or not the whole truth (as in half-truths or omission). Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda, sleight of hand. It can employ distraction, camouflage or concealment. ...
- fraudulence: the quality of being fraudulent
- misrepresentation: a misleading falsehood
The list could go on and on. In many ways, it is a laundry list of the world around us. Deceitful behavior is considered acceptable in many arenas of our lives, highly entertaining in others. How then, can one be without guile? How, indeed….
Oh, be careful, little feet, where you go…
Oh, be careful, little hands, what you do…
Oh, be careful, little mouth, what you say…
-Children’s song
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