I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. (3rd John 1:3, N.K.J.V.)

A man was on trial for murder. All the circumstantial evidence strongly indicated his guilt, but the police hadn’t been able to find the corpse. That left some doubt as to whether the jury would convict him. Nevertheless, the man’s defense attorney believed the jury was leaning toward doing just that. So, he resorted to a clever trick.

In the attorney’s closing argument, he said, “Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I have a surprise for you. Within one minute, the person presumed dead in this case will walk into this courtroom.” Then he looked down at his watch as if counting the seconds. Thirty seconds later, he turned and started staring at the courtroom door. The jurors, somewhat stunned, all fixed their eyes on the door as well. After the allotted time had passed, however, it became obvious that no one was walking through that door.

Finally, the attorney broke the courtroom silence by saying, “Actually, I made up the previous statement. But since each of you looked at the door with anticipation, I submit that you all have reasonable doubt in this case as to whether or not my client really killed anybody. And because of that, I insist that you return a verdict of ‘not guilty.'” The jury then retired to deliberate.

To the attorney’s surprise, they came back into the courtroom just a few minutes later and pronounced a verdict of “guilty.” Risking the ire of the judge, the attorney shouted at them, “How could you do this? You must have had some doubt. I saw all of you stare at that door.” To that, the jury foreman replied, “Yes, we did. But your client didn’t.”

As clever as lawyers can be, not one of them is in Satan’s league when it comes to twisting and distorting the truth. Revelation 12:9 says that he “deceives the whole world,” and Jesus said of him, “There is no truth in him” (John 8:44). Rest assured that if Satan was able to talk Eve out of the truth, he is able to deceive us, too. We are simply no match for him. That is why we must make it a matter of regular prayer to ask the Lord to give us discernment and wisdom in regards to what is true and what is a lie.

If you haven’t done so today, take a moment right now and ask the Lord for such discernment and wisdom. Tell Him that you don’t want to believe anything that isn’t the truth. Tell Him that you don’t want to be duped by Satan. Tell Him that you want to know the truth so that you can bring your life in line with it. And then listen to and heed the truth when God sends it your way. You see, without God’s help, you’ll never be able to fully walk in truth.