Thurs.’s Devo - Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness

Read Ex. 20:16 I always thought that this was addressed to the person who was bringing the wrong report about someone but when I looked up the word “bear” in the Hebrew also means “to heed or pay attention” to false witness. So you can be the person who says it or listens and believes it and still be breaking this commandment. I am guilty of trying to figure out why a person did something which is speculation. I’m pretty sure this is wrong too. There are many times when God lets me know what is in a person’s heart about a matter and I’m pretty sure I’m suppose to keep that to myself even if it is the truth. God will share secrets with his friends but he does this because he trusts them to keep it to themselves. God gave us 10 commandments; the first four have to do with how we relate to him and the other 6 have to do with how we relate to one another. To lie about another person is pretty serious in God’s eyes. He hates injustice and when we talk about people when they are not there they cannot stand up for themselves. This is how Dueteronomy 19 puts it: “16 If a false witness rise up against any man to testify against him that which is wrong; 17 Then both the men, between whom the controversy is, shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges, which shall be in those days; 18 And the judges shall make diligent inquisition: and, behold, if the witness be a false witness, and hath testified falsely against his brother; 19 Then shall ye do unto him, as he had thought to have done unto his brother: so shalt thou put the evil away from among you.” So whatever judgment you wish to happen to your brother, if he is innocent, will come upon you. It’s another version of “you reap what you sow”. That is enough to scare the truth into us! Remember, God doesn’t judge as we do… he judges the intent of the heart, not necessarily the act. Lord, put a guard over our mouths and hearts that we only see the truth in others and only speak what is good.