Proverbs 13:5 The silent stinker
A righteous man hates falsehood, But a wicked man acts disgustingly and shamefully. Proverbs 13:5 NASB
What is the connection between one who hates lies and one who causes shame? One man hates what is false. Their soul rejects it and doesn’t want any part of it. No shade of lie, no half truth, no compromise with something false. It’s an internal response driven by his values. Comparing that with a man who acts disgustingly or literally “causes a bad odor and causes shame.” Shame isn’t experienced by the one causing it, rather, by those with whom he associates. It’s an external response. Shame is the painful feeling from the consciousness that something is dishonorable or improper. Although the one who causes it doesn’t feel it, but those associated with him do. Along with a sense of disgrace. Regret. Both behaviors are drawing from the inner nature. Both are about what they have become. When we are born, we don’t have the embedded proclivity for either. They reflect life choices that shape the character.
We are all cut from Adam’s cloth. Flesh and blood. But what makes one refined, careful about presentation and communication and another completely mindless to being in a gathering of people and “letting one rip!”? (And every nuance in between.) It’s our values. Those traits about ourself that become important to display to others. At the core, the value of loving others and serving God creates a context that hates lying, darkness, deception, manipulation.
I think of Lucifer, the highest and most beautiful of God’s created beings. He valued himself and his beauty above what God valued. As a result, he became a liar and the Father of Lies. The chief among the disgusting ones. Did he not think about becoming? Yet, he became something. Today, people are like moldable clay. In front of me are the same daily choices: truth, honesty, sincerity, or that which is disgusting. The latter may not let out gas shamelessly, but often the equivalent is a good substitute… bad air from the words spoken, the honor not given, or the self-reflection not realized.
Hating falsehood doesn’t necessarily mean I know everything, but the net result is humility which recognizes who I am, how far man has fallen, and how much grace has been extended to me as a result. The fall originated with a lie — there is reason to hate it— and flee the room because of the silent stinker.