ToddGaddisBook_October2023_8.5x5.5.indd

the case with Gehazi, as depicted below.

Lie #2- Later, when Gehazi met up with his master, Elisha asked him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” To which Gehazi respond ed, “Your servant didn’t go anywhere” (2 Kings 5:25). A lie led to the fall when Satan told Eve, “You will not surely die!” after eating the forbidden fruit (Genesis 3:4). Later, Cain lied to the Lord by claiming he did not know about his brother’s whereabouts (Gen 4:9). Potiphar’s wife lied by saying Joseph tried to rape her when has was actually trying to avoid her sexual ad vances. Joseph went to prison as a result (Genesis 39:20). Scripture says, “You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another. Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Ly ing lips are an abomination to the Lord” (Leviticus 19:11, Psalm 34:13, Proverbs 12:22) . Yet, as a USA Today poll reported, only 56% of Americans teach honesty to their children. Also, a Louis Harris poll revealed the unfortunate fact that 65% of high school students would cheat on an important exam. Recently, a noted physician said on a television talk show: “Lying is an important part of social life, and children who are unable to do it are children who may have devel opmental problems.” And that appeared over 30 years ago in the devotional booklet, Our Daily Bread. Was Gehazi brought up in a home where lying was allowed, perhaps even nurtured? We’ll never know.What we can say is that it looked as though his scheme had worked for a short while. Gathering his apparent accumulation, he put the ill-gotten goods away in his house (2 Kings 5:24).

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