The language is intense. The psalmist does not only dislike falsehood. He hates and abhors it. Falsehood provokes moral disgust because it stands in direct opposition to the character of God, who is truth. Matthew Henry writes, “Every man hates to have a lie told him; but we should more hate telling a lie because by the former we only receive an affront from men, by the latter we give an affront to God.” In contrast, the psalmist loves God’s law. He does not waver between truth and error. Because falsehood contradicts God’s word, he rejects it. Because the law reflects the righteous character of God, he cherishes it. If we love God and his word, we must learn to hate everything that is false. We must reject not only the lies of the culture and the deception we see in others, but also the subtle dishonesty within ourselves, including exaggerations, rationalizations, and self-protecting narratives. We cannot love the God of truth while tolerating falsehood in our own hearts. Therefore we ask him to search us, expose what is crooked, and train us to love truth without compromise.
