Web

I heard this said the other day, something I have said many times, and while I was studying this morning it came back to me, you have probably heard it before, it is this: “What a wicked web we weave, when we practice to deceive.”  Have you ever been deceived by anyone before or maybe you were the deceiver?  

There are times when people deceive people, or purposely mislead people, to their advantage.  Deceiving people seems to be an epidemic in our society; and many seem to have perfected this lifestyle.  The noun deception has 3 senses - a misleading falsehood; the act of deceiving: an illusionary feat, considered magical by naive observers.  When you mislead, tell a half truth, or trick someone, you are deceiving them.  Many in our government use deception to get what they want.  Television commercials are deceptive many times, plus many of the things you read and hear.  I would say that most all of us have either been deceived or deceived someone else in our lifetime.  

Let me ask you this question: do we ever deceive ourselves?  Yes, I think we have all been there at one time or another, sometimes without being aware of it.  When you have the ability to do something but you lack the confidence to do it and you say you can’t, you are deceiving yourself.  Deception doesn’t only affect non-believers but also believers as well.  When the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, or something we need to do or say, and we push it aside, we deceive ourselves.

There is a story about Joshua where he was lied to, tricked and deceived by the people of Gibeon.  God commanded Joshua and the Israelites to make no treaties with the people of Canaan, but when the Gibeonites came and tricked them by deception they signed a treaty with them, without consulting the Lord as Joshua normally would do.  How many times do believers get deceived because of not consulting the Lord about matters of importance?  You can find this story in Joshua 9:3-27.  Because of Joshua not consulting the Lord, they broke God’s command and ended up having to deal will some angry people plus an awkward alliance.  Joshua and the people were deceived.

Now I want to hit on a story that many people know about, and it is the book of Esther.  In this book there was a man named Haman who was second in command under Persia’s King Ahasuerus.   His desire was to be the most important and to control others.  He was blinded by arrogance and self-importance when he planned to do away with a man who was a Jew, named Mordecai, as well as all the other Jews because Mordecai would not bow down to him.  His problem was pride.  Because of one man, Haman devised a plan to do away with all the other Jews in the King’s province.  He went as far as to have a gallows built 50 cubits high to hang Mordecai on.  Haman thought his plan was foolproof; all he had to do was convince the king and he would have it made.  He deceived the King by telling a half-truth, hiding the real reason he wanted the King to destroy the Jews.  Like I said before, “What an evil web we weave, when we practice to deceive.”  In the end Haman was hanged on the very gallows he had, had built to hang Mordecai on, it was like the web tightened on his own neck.  You might say the words in Proverbs 16:18, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall,” came true in this circumstance.  If you want to read this story, it is found in the Old Testament, in the book of Esther.

So be careful of pride or anything that would cause you to fall into the sin of deception.  Pray and ask the Lord to keep you from being deceived or deceiving anyone else or yourself.  Have a great day and God bless you!!