Saul: King of ExcusesExemplo

We’ve all been there. We cover it up when caught in a lie or an unfinished task. We make excuses, deny, or blame shift. And if that doesn’t work, we begin to apologize or attempt to avoid the consequences. We don’t have to be taught how to do this. It just comes naturally. I am reminded of how my children used to perform their chores. One of the chores we asked them to complete was doing the dishes. This is a pretty straightforward chore. (Much like the one God gave to Saul.)

However, my children rarely completed the task. When the dishwasher was packed with dishes, they wouldn’t run it so they wouldn’t have to unload it as soon. When confronted with the incompleteness of this chore, they often responded with, “I did what you wanted.” They knew they had not fully completed the task, and yet they still justified their actions. This is precisely what King Saul did.

By worldly standards, Saul and his army had an overwhelming military victory over the Amalekites. And Saul obeyed the Lord, mostly. After all, he and his army destroyed all Amalekites except King Agag. At the time, it was customary to spare the lives of enemy kings and demand a ransom for their return. Saul’s disobedience fell short of God’s command regarding the livestock, with the text noting that only the animals “they despised” or considered “worthless” were destroyed.

Over the next five days, we will look at Saul's five various excuses: feigning obedience, blame-shifting, empty apology, confessing without consequences, and not completing the job.

Feigning Obedience

Saul seemed oblivious to his sin. Look at what he says in verse 13: “Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” He was still riding on the emotional high of his victory. He had no clue that he’d done anything wrong, nor did he foresee Samuel coming to chastise him for disobedience. He then detailed how he had obeyed the voice of the Lord. After all, he mostly did what God wanted.

Did Saul misunderstand what God instructed him to do? Sinclair Ferguson says, “Our problem in obeying God is not that we do not understand what He is saying, but that we do!” Saul’s initial reaction to Samuel’s accusation was to feign obedience.

Feigning obedience is denial in its worst form. Denial is a potent tool of the mind that protects us from truths we don’t want to face. It can be so complete that we become convinced the lie is true. Saul, caught up in his delusions of grandeur, may have actually believed he had obeyed God.

When God commands us to do something as He did with Saul and the Amalekites, we must fully obey Him. God does not desire a halfway attempt at obedience. How do we respond when our teenager takes out the trash but fails to place a new bag in the can or folds the laundry but leaves all the socks unmated in the basket? We would immediately point out to our children the unfinished tasks and ignore their claims of obedience that they “did their chores.” When God requires all, most is still disobedience. We are not to obey most of what God commands. We are to obey all of what God commands.

Aren’t we all just like Saul? We claim that we obey God, but deep down, we don’t. Do we claim to obey all of the Ten Commandments? Jesus addressed the importance of the condition of our hearts in the Sermon on the Mount. Many of us would never even consider murdering another person. But in Matthew 5:22, Jesus challenged His listeners that if they had hated their brother, they were guilty of murder.In Matthew 5:27-28, Jesus stated that anyone who lusts after another has already committed adultery in his heart. So, while we display outward obedience to God’s law, inwardly, our hearts are far from Him. How many times each day do our hearts violate God’s commands? Obedience is more than external. True obedience is obedience of the heart. Let us refrain from being like Saul and not feign obedience.