Thoughts on Psalm 116:11

Psa 116:11 I said in my haste, All men are liars.
David in his flight from King Saul and in the subsequent betrayals he underwent uttered these words. They are an exaggeration, as is shown even in this verse. It was in haste he said it. Yet, there is a great element of truth in this. Mankind naturally has a propensity to falsehood. If a man does not lie outright, yet he may still not give the whole truth, or may twist things in a hundred different ways. A truly honest man will be willing to tell the truth even if it does harm to him and his cause. In this almost all men fall short.
Guilelessness is a very rare trait, one which, initially, was only found in one of the twelve disciples, Nathanael (John 1:45-47). He was a very forthright person and did not try to sugarcoat things.
Christ was always a wonderful example of truthfulness, but never more than when He admitted to being the Son of God when confronted by the oath of the High Priest. He did this knowing that they would use this to put Him to death, but without hesitation He spoke the truth, the ever blessed truth, of which He is the embodiment.
While we are on the subject of truth and guilelessness, it might be relevant for me to mention one of my little quirks. To the best of my recollection, I have never ended a letter with “sincerely yours”. I have ended many with “yours” or other similar things, but it has always struck me that sincerity never claims for itself.
If there are to stores selling jewelry and the one offers “24 Carat Gold” and the other offers “genuine 24 Carat Gold”. Which is more likely to be real? The one says, “24 Carat if you doubt than test it.” The other says, “I’m genuine you don’t need to test me.”
Sincerity merely states the truth, and allows others to test. It rests on the assurance of its own reality. Guile boldly proclaims its genuineness so that it will not be tested and found wanting.
Without giving an exact quote, and trusting that I am not giving a false impression of what he wrote (the book “the Character Of God’s Workmen” is not currently in my possession), Watchman Nee once wrote that whenever we consciously say something in a certain way to someone to elicit a certain response, we are guilty of manipulation.
God does not speak the truth in a way that tries to trick us into doing it. He speaks the truth and whether we respond or not is based on our love of the truth.
When Christ declared Himself the Son of God, the judges all had opportunity to test that assertion. They none loved the truth and used it as a pretext to have Him put to death.
May God grant that all of us may one day be found in the company of those in whose mouth was found no guile (Rev. 14:5).
Yours,
Daniel