“Did you finish your schoolwork today?“

My son looked at me and nodded his head. “Yes, ma’am.“

“Everything? You did it all? Even math?“

“Even math.” He was looking me square in the eyes.

“Okay. Well, I was just checking because I didn’t see you sitting at the table with your school books at all. Seems like you’ve been outside most of the day. I trust you are telling me the truth.“

“I am, Mom. You can trust me.“

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two hours later, I walked into my son’s bedroom to lay a pile of clean laundry on his bed. I noticed his math workbook opened … and not a single answer was written on the pages.

About that time, I heard him in the hallway. “Hey,” I called out. “I thought you said you finished all of your schoolwork, even your math.“

“I did, Mom. I already told you that.“

“Yes, well … I found your math book on your bed and there isn’t anything written on it. Looks like you haven’t done math after all.“

“Oh. Well, I thought I did.“

“Do it now. All of it. And double check the rest of your work. If you want to go to youth group tonight at church, you need to get all of your schoolwork completed.“

“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a sigh.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shortly after supper, my husband rounded up all the teens and tweens to take to church for our mid-week services. (I always stay behind to put toddlers to bed and have a bit of quiet time for myself.)

As the gang walked out of the door, their Bibles in hand, I put my hand on my son’s shoulder and asked, “Did you finish all your schoolwork?“

“Mom, this is the third time you’ve asked me. It’s all done. Why don’t you believe me?“

“I did … until I saw you didn’t tell me the truth. If you are faithful to answer honestly, then I can always believe what you say. But when you go down the slippery slope of lying, I cannot trust you. I’ll be checking your work while you are at church. If you didn’t do it, now is the time to ‘fess up.“

“It’s done, Mom.” And with that, he jerked out of my presence and ran to get into the car with the rest of the family.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I kept my promise and checked the schoolwork.

Would you believe it wasn’t done? None of it. The math pages still blank. Science and history lessons incomplete. Grammar not even started. Furthermore, I discovered he had done the same thing for the two days prior.

I was waiting when he walked in, and sat him down for a “Come to Jesus” meeting at our dining table. Caught in a web of deceit, all he could do was admit he had lied to me more than once and accept the consequences given for his behavior.

But in my heart, it wasn’t over. Why did my son lie? This child had never been one to shirk his schoolwork before and generally was on top of all his assignments. He isn’t lazy by nature. So what was he gaining from misrepresenting himself?

I still don’t know the root cause other than this:

He is human, and humans are liars.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

God is not a liar.

That’s a rather astonishing thing if you think about it.  This world is full of liars who can’t be trusted (myself included). Yet God is so perfectly faithful, I can trust everything He promises will come to pass.

So what are His promises? Here are a few:

~He will meet all our needs. (Psalm 34: 9-10)

~Peace (Isaiah 26:3)

~Help overcoming temptation (1 Corinthians 10:13)

~Protection (Proverbs 18:10)

~Hope (Jeremiah 29:11)

~He will be always with us (Matthew 28:20)

~His return (John 14:2-3)

 I’m thankful God never lies and I can rest in His faithfulness to me.