“…whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech.” – 1 Peter 3:10 (NIV)
Many of us have been the recipients of the repercussions of being deceived by someone near and dear to our hearts. It does not matter the type of deception; all deception is catastrophic in its composition and has the capacity to spiral into divorce, division in family and properties, suicidal tendencies, financial indebtedness, addiction to drugs and alcohol, etc.
The thing about deception, however, is that you never see it coming simply because it comes from a direction that causes you to be blindsided, and that stab in the back produces a stab in the heart. It is in the incubator of darkness that deception is conceived, and its intention is lethal in that it seeks to steal, kill, and destroy the destiny of the intended target (John 10:10). To accomplish that dastardly act, it moves with the stealth of a serpent, whose deceptive venomous nature is to befriend and at an opportune time betray.
Depression is a by-product of deception, and those affected sometimes use anti-depressant medication to deal with the emotional rollercoaster of being angry, resentful, hateful, and experiencing sleepless nights consistently. However, some of these anti-depressants have harmful side effects. The best medication for deception and its negative spill-off is “joy.”
Joy is the best rehabilitative spiritual medication for the aftermath of any form of deception or depression. As Nehemiah 8:10 admonishes, let the joy of the Lord be your strength. Joy doesn’t just happen. It is a product of God’s plan to restore our tormented souls. It is an active plan to seek God’s wisdom in exchange for our own. It is a result of discipline, prioritised by the Holy Spirit.
Beloved, before yielding to the temptation of drowning yourself in a myriad of medications, drowning your sorrows in a bottle of alcohol, and/or entertaining vengeful thoughts against the deceiver, it is best for you to prostrate before God, worship Him, and cry out all your troubles to Him. Why? When “The righteous cry out…the Lord hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles. [He] is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:17-18 – NIV).
On the road to recovery, we need to confess our sins of being wrathful against our enemies and display love and forgiveness toward those who hurt us. We cannot do it alone, but as we yield our earthly vessels to the Refiner’s transformative fire of the Holy Spirit, He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9), restore our joy (Psalm 51:12), and dispel the darkness of deception from our lives.
Read: Psalm 16:11; Psalm 101:7
Bible Reading Guide: Psalm 102:1-11; 1 Corinthians 15:1-34; 2 Chronicles 16; 2 Chronicles 17; 2 Chronicles 18:1-27
