Sooner or later, we all “blow it” in our Christian walk. Sometimes we are the only ones who know (other than God) and sometimes everyone has seen or heard about our failure. I have spoken often in the blog about keeping our hearts aligned with God as a key to keeping Satan at bay and for accessing the blessings and the power of heaven. Staying in alignment with the Father is just as much about our response when we do sin, as it is when we avoid sin.
There are two individuals in the O.T. that model the best and worse response to the inevitability of sin while we walk in the flesh. One was Saul, the first King of Israel and the second was David. If you look at their spiritual failures David’s would seem to outweigh Saul’s failings by far but God had a different view.
Saul had a good start. He, like David, was called from obscurity to be king. He initially displayed faith and a humble heart. But when the chips were down he failed in a way that might seem to us to be of little consequence. In 1 Samuel 10, Samuel the prophet instructs Saul to go to Gilgal and wait seven days before proceeding with his plans to march against the Philistines. Samuel’s plan was to meet Saul in Gilgal, pray on his behalf, and offer sacrifices to God for Saul’s victory. Samuel was not only a prophet but also a priest as well from the tribe of Levi so his presence for the sacrifice was essential. However, in Chapter 13 we find that Saul had gathered an army, gone to Gilgal, and waited seven days for Samuels’ arrival. But as Saul and his men waited, the courage of many failed and they began to slip away from the ranks. Saul, rather than waiting on Samuel as the Lord had commanded, took it upon himself to offer the sacrifice to keep more of his men from leaving. Of course, just as the smoke from the final sacrifice feathered out into the air, Samuel arrived.
The text says: “What have you done?” asked Samuel. Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Micmash, I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” “You acted foolishly,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure.” (1 Sam.13:11-14).
Saul had received a clear word from the Lord through the prophet and clearly knew that sacrifices were to be offered by priests only. But out of fear and ambition for success, he had ignored the command and the law. But notice Saul’s response to Samuel’s rebuke. He excused his decision and blamed others for his sin. He rationalized what he had done as being necessary under the circumstances – “the men were scattering.” He then deflected the blame to Samuel – “you did not come at the set time.” He then argues that he couldn’t help himself in that situation – “I felt compelled.” Finally he imputes a godly motive to his actions – seeking the Lord’s favor.
In essence, Saul had disobeyed God’s clear command out of fear and ambition but argued that he really hadn’t sinned because circumstances did not permit him to be obedient. God’s command just wasn’t working for him and if Samuel had gotten there on time (which he actually did) none of that would have happened. Saul rationalized, minimized, and excused his sin. The result was the loss of his kingdom because he did not honor God.
David was also called from obscurity. God gave him numerous victories in battle, removed Saul from the throne, and established a solid kingdom for David. Yet in a moment of weakness he committed adultery, tried to cover his sin through deception, ordered the murder of Bathsheba’s husband, and then took the grieving widow as his wife. In my estimation, David’s spiritual failure seems a little more substantial than Saul’s. Yet David’s kingdom was not taken away while Saul’s was. Why? I think the answer lies in David’s response to his sin.
Without question, David had to be confronted by Nathan the prophet before confessing anything. But when he was confronted, his response was, “I have sinned against the Lord!” In Psalm 51, David reveals his heart regarding his sin. If you will scan that Psalm you will see that David makes no excuses, blames no one else, and refuses to rationalize or minimize what he has done. Instead he owns his failure, calls it sin, declares that God’s standards are just and right and then leans on the unfailing love and mercy of God for forgiveness. At the same time he asks God to transform his heart so that he would not sin again.
Too often, we are convinced by the enemy that God only accepts us if we have it all together so when we fail we excuse it, deny it, minimize it, justify it or find someone else to blame. That is not what God desires. God desires a heart that honors God’s standards rather than claiming that they are unfair or unrealistic. He wants a heart that wants to live up to his righteous standards rather than giving up on them because “they don’t work for us” or don’t get us what we want.
Alignment with God’s heart is having a heart that believes that God’s ways are true and right and that believes Christ’s blood is sufficient for all of our failings. To believe that God exists is not enough for a victorious life. We must also believe that he is full of grace, love and mercy for us…not just the first time we sin but every time we sin if we will honor him and be honest in his presence. We need to give our sins and failures to Jesus every day but cannot give away what we don’t own. We don’t own it if we don’t take personal responsibility for it. God is not keeping score of our failures but is looking for a heart that trusts his word and his love.
Satan wants us to believe that the last time we sinned was the last time God’s grace, forgiveness, and love was available. When we believe that lie, we have aligned our hearts with Satan rather than with God. Our Heavenly Father wants us to believe that his mercies are new every morning and that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 Jn.1:9). In many respects, David’s sin was much greater than Saul’s. But the heart was the issue. David humbled himself daily so that God could lift him up. Saul, in his effort to justify his failings, attempted to convince God that his standards were out of touch with Saul’s realities. Once you open that door, Satan will have a field day. You will take of the tree and eat every day, justify it in your own mind, and then blame God when life is not working out.
David was called “a man after God’s own heart” not because his heart was always perfect, but because he desperately wanted his heart to be like the Father’s. Even when he failed, his goal was to have a more righteous heart shaped by God’s Holy Spirit rather than to convince God that his sins weren’t so bad or that he had no choice in the matter.
The way to experience the blessings and power of God in our lives is not just to live a righteous life, but to make a righteous response in the face of even great failings. Trust God to love and forgive no matter what. Demonstrate that trust with a honest response to God that always honors his character and his standards.
