"Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no
guile!" John 1:47 Jesus said this of Nathanael upon meeting him. Obviously Christ
felt that being without guile was a commendable trait. But, what exactly does it mean?
Guile is another word for deceit. But, it means a more personal, subtle form of deceit. It
is what feeds such things as denial, repression and manipulation.
There are some people, like Nathanael, who truly have no guile. They
are very transparent and open. They accept people at face value and, since they have no
guile themselves, are bewildered when they are faced with wickedness and deceit in others.
But, truly guileless people are rare. They are both refreshing and frustrating at the same
time. They simply cannot "connect" with those of us who wallow in the muck and
the mire of wicked human nature.
I have shared the message of surrender and my "black little
heart" with a few of these guileless people. They try to grasp what I am saying and
often understand intellectually that man is basically evil, but they can't imagine the
kind of manipulative deceit and wickedness of which I speak. I am not suggesting they are
sinless. But because they are transparent with themselves and with others their motives
are more often pure and their reactions more kind.
I used to observe people like this and want so bad to be like them
(Martha Jo was guileless, of course). I would get up every day and try to have that pure
heart and kind spirit. But, it is impossible to take one's "black little heart"
and transform it through this type of effort. An absence of guile, like humility is a
by-product of surrender.
When we start being honest with ourselves and our motives and
surrender all that we find in our heart to God, guile is unmasked and exposed. Our prayer
should be as the Psalmists, "Search me, Oh God, and know my heart; Try me and know my
anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the
everlasting way." As a person walks in surrender and recognizes guile in their heart
as soon as God reveals it, they do become "without guile." The natural outcome
is a lack of guile is that it is not founded in a lack of deceit but rather in a
recognition of deceit! God sums it up in Jeremiah 17:9 when He states, "The heart is
more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it? I the Lord
search the heart ..." God knows the condition of our "black little heart".
All He wants from us is to know it too and surrender it to Him.
