Module 2 · Lesson 3
Right in His Own Eyes
Can I be wrong and still feel certain?
13 minutes
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“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” (Proverbs 14:12)
- See what the Bible says about the feeling of being right
- Learn why confidence is not the same as evidence
- Examine how success, learning, and religious position can blind us
- Meet the question every honest reader must be willing to ask
- Choose a standard outside yourself
Everything in this lesson is a mirror, not a stone. The Bible’s warnings about self-deception are written about all of us, the writer of this course included. If, while reading, you find yourself thinking of someone else who needs to hear this, pause. David did exactly that, and the prophet Nathan had to say, “Thou art the man” (2 Samuel 12:7).
Start with a question Think of a time you were absolutely sure of something and turned out to be wrong. What did it feel like in the moment before you found out? For most of us, the answer is: it felt exactly like being right. That single fact is the foundation of this lesson.
A feeling is not a witness The Bible says the same thing in different words, over and over:
“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes: but he that hearkeneth unto counsel is wise.” (Proverbs 12:15) “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.” (Proverbs 21:2) “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the LORD weigheth the spirits.” (Proverbs 16:2) “There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.” (Proverbs 30:12)
Read them side by side. They describe one fact from several angles: a person can be wrong and feel right. The sense of being right is not evidence of being right, because the mind that gives us that sense is the very mind in question.
Notice the contrast in each verse. The man looks at himself. The LORD “pondereth” and “weigheth.” He uses a standard outside the person.
If my sense of being right can feel exactly the same whether I’m right or wrong, what can I use to tell the difference?
The heart is not a sufficient witness “He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.” (Proverbs 28:26) The Bible does not say the heart is stupid. It says the heart is not a sufficient witness in its own case. A judge is not allowed to hear his own trial. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins.” (Jeremiah 17:9–10)
We do not have direct sight of our own hearts. Look at how often the Bible uses the reflexive: we deceive ourselves (1 John 1:8); a person can deceive his own heart (James 1:26). The deceiver and the deceived are the same person, which is why nobody notices it happening. A man with a lie in his hand does not feel the weight of a lie. He feels the weight of a possession.
Confidence and caution Here is something that may surprise you:
“A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.” (Proverbs 14:16) “Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more hope of a fool than of him.” (Proverbs 26:12) “The sluggard is wiser in his own conceit than seven men that can render a reason.” (Proverbs 26:16)
Look at the last verse again. One man is more confident than seven who can give reasons. The belief he has examined least is the one he holds the hardest.
Is it possible that the strength of my certainty tells me more about how much I’ve examined something than about whether it’s true?
When success becomes a blindfold “The rich man is wise in his own conceit” (Proverbs 28:11). When we do well in one area, we quietly assume we understand everything. Uzziah, king of Judah, was a gifted ruler. But “when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction” (2 Chronicles 26:16), and he walked into the temple to do what only priests were allowed to do. Eighty priests told him no. “Then Uzziah was wroth” (26:19). He was still angry at the correction when the judgment fell. His skill was real. His mistake was believing it reached further than it did.
Learning does not protect us either. Jeremiah confronted the religious scholars of his day: “How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? ... The wise men are ashamed ... lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?” (Jeremiah 8:8–9). They had the text and the training. And Scripture says they had rejected the word.
Sure of sight, and blind
“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” (Revelation 3:17)
Look at the pairing: thou sayest... and knowest not. The tragedy is the gap between what they said and what they knew. And the remedy begins with admitting it: “anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see” (3:18). Jesus said the same thing after healing a man born blind: “For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind.” And some Pharisees asked, “Are we blind also?” Jesus said unto them, “If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.” (John 9:39–41) The man who knows he is blind can be healed. The man who says “We see” does not come.
Paul puts the principle in two sentences worth memorizing: “And if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.” (1 Corinthians 8:2) “For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.” (Galatians 6:3)
The question that goes to the root Isaiah describes a skilled craftsman who cuts down a tree. He burns half of it for warmth, bakes bread on the coals, roasts his meat, then takes the rest and bows down to it. The prophet’s comment:
“And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire ... and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree? He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?” (Isaiah 44:19–20)
The man is not stupid. He is skilled. But “none considereth.” He has never stopped to ask whether the thing in his own hand is what he thinks it is. Is there not a lie in my right hand? It is the one question we are least likely to ask about the thing we hold most closely.
A standard outside ourselves If I can’t be my own final judge, what can I use? The Bible’s answer is always a standard outside the person: “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23–24) Not “confirm me.” Search me. That is the prayer of a wise reader.
- A person can be wrong and feel right (Proverbs 14:12; 21:2).
- The heart is not a sufficient witness in its own case (Proverbs 28:26; Jeremiah 17:9).
- Strong confidence is not evidence of sound foundations (Proverbs 26:16).
- Success, learning and religious position do not protect us (Uzziah; Jeremiah 8:8–9).
- The wise look for a standard outside themselves and invite it to examine them.
- Where have I been completely sure and later found I was wrong? What did I learn?
- What do I believe most strongly? When did I last examine it?
- Who in my life is allowed to tell me I’m wrong?
- Can I pray Psalm 139:23–24 and mean “search me”?
Proverbs 14:12
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If our own feeling can’t be trusted as a judge, where did our beliefs come from in the first place?