Apparently, Proverbs 21:2 and Proverbs 16:2 clarify the fact that a man’s motive—the underlying aspect of the heart which God’s ponders—is the driving force of the “way of a man.” With God motives matter greatly.
While it is true that Jesus gave the illustration of a son asking his father for bread that the father, being evil, would not give him a stone—yet—we must also be aware that requests made to God which are derived from wrong motives can cause one to be handed a serpent instead of a fish! 2 Thess. 2:10-11 states clearly the reason that God “shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:” and that reason is “because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” The “strong delusion” can clearly be traced back to the motive of those who are sadly mentioned in 2 Thess 2.
With God, “why” a person does something is of even greater importance to “what” a person does. God will not only judge our deeds [our “whats”] but He will pass judgment on our “whats” by considering our “whys.” The person who knows the right thing to do and refuses to do the right thing sins against God (James 4:17; 2 Peter 2:20-22; 2 Timothy 2:21-26).
Therefore, motives become the key factor in the “ways of man.” For instance, two individuals may seek God for certain spiritual promotions and end up with totally different “gifts” from God based on their motives for asking—one from a sincere and pure request and the other from a selfish and dishonest request. Balaam, because of impure motives was told to “go” after he had previously been told to “stay.” He DID hear from God but what he failed to grasp was that God had given him a “go” based on his erroneous motives.
There have always been those who can testify that they sought God and prayed and fasted to determine a path away from the “old paths” and lo and behold they begin to receive “revelations” and “affirmations” and “enlightenment” in their path or journey to lands already occupied by those who with equally impure motives long ago blazed the trail from Truth to delusion!
This is the terrifying thing about delusion—especially strong delusion—is that it is self-confirming and prevents the entry of Truth (which sets free) thereby condemning the deceived to a state of mind which is a “belief” but a belief in a lie. Yet a lie is safe as long as Truth is evicted.
Sadly, there is the process of going from darkness to light due to an honest heart but there is also the process of going from light to darkness due to a dishonest heart!
A clinical journal article stated the following: “Human beliefs are shaped by perception, but new research suggests delusions — unfounded but tightly held beliefs — can turn the tables and actually shape perception.” This is the horror of being in delusion—perception is shaped by the lie.
Spiritual delusion is a false belief based on incorrect inference about spiritual reality that is firmly sustained despite Scripture which constitutes incontrovertible and obvious proof or evidence to the contrary. “To believe a lie” is the most horrific faith—faith produced by a delusion!
–JLG–