29. Remove from me the way of lying. This is the way of sin, error, idolatry, folly, self-righteousness, formalism, hypocrisy. David cannot endure to have it near him. He desired to be true and in the truth, but he feared that a measure of falsehood would cling to him unless the Lord took it away, and therefore he earnestly cried for its removal. False motives may at times sway us, and we may fall into mistaken notions of our own spiritual condition before God, which erroneous conceits may be kept up by a natural prejudice in our own favor, and so we may be confirmed in a delusion, and abide in our error unless grace comes to the rescue.
And grant me thy law graciously. David wishes to have the law opened up to his understanding, engraved upon his heart, and carried out in his life. If the law be not in our hearts the lie will enter. David would seem to have remembered those times when, according to the eastern fashion, he had practiced deceit for his own preservation, and he saw that he had been weak and erring upon that point; therefore he was bowed down in spirit and begged to be quickened and delivered from transgressing in that manner any more. Holy people cannot review their sins without tears, nor weep over them without intreating to be saved from further offending. There is an evident opposition between falsehood and the gracious power of God’s law. The only way to expel the lie is to accept the truth. Grace and truth are ever linked together, and a belief of the doctrines of grace is a grand preservative from deadly error.
In the fifth of the preceding octave (verse 21) David cries out against pride, and here against lying. These are much the same thing. Is not pride the greatest of all lies?
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