Job 27:4

My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.

Ver. 4. My lips shall not speak wickedness] Which I should do, should I, contrary to that which the Spirit of God witnesseth to my conscience, through a feigned humility, confess that I have been wicked. Let God's dejected servants take heed, lest by the temptation of Satan, and the misgivings of their own evil hearts of unbelief, they be drawn to belie the work of God's Spirit in them, and to hold themselves utterly void of grace, because not endued with such and such measures of grace. Learn to distinguish between imbecility and nullity; show yourselves faithful in weakness, though but weak in faith. There is an allowance to gold, with which it may pass; neither is it to be cast aside because it wanteth some grains, and hath a crack. Nec vinum reiecimus et si faecem habeat, saith Spinaeus (de Instit. Christ.). God seeth nothing amiss in that man whose heart is upright, 2 Chronicles 15:17. He lays the finger of mercy on the scars of his people's sins, as that limner in the story. He will not crush, but cherish, that worm Jacob.

Nor my tongue utter deceit] No, for that were to speak wickedness, yea, to speak yourself wicked. For the remnant of Israel shall not, by betraying the truth, do iniquity, nor speak lies; neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, Zephaniah 3:13. For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie; so he was their Saviour, Isaiah 63:8 .