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The Self-Justifiers
by
Josprel
"Rationalizing our disobedience to God makes excuse
givers of us all," may sound like the paraphrase of an old cliché, but
that makes it no less true. King Saul was such a person. God selected
him as Israel's first king when the nation demanded that it be as other
nations that had kings. In thus acquiescing to the people's demand for a
king, God expressed His permissive, rather than His perfect will in the
matter.
It is heart-rending for a person to be in God's permissive rather than
His perfect will. One pastor surprised this writer by admitting that he
had followed God's permissive will for his life. God had given him a
definite call to the mission field and worked things out for him to go
by providing financial support, and by moving on the mission board to
appoint him immediately upon his graduation from seminary, without the
necessary two-year experience as a pastor. However, he was engaged to a
girl who refused marry him if he entered missionary ministry. No amount
of persuasion could change her mind, so he changed his. In spite of the
strivings of the Holy Spirit for him to obey, he rejected his true
calling and instead became a pastor.
In His mercy, God permitted him to serve in that capacity with some
success. As the pastor told me the story, his voice manifested his
profound sadness. "I realize God has forgiven me," he said, "but I can't
help wondering how many souls never heard the Gospel because of my
disobedience. I don't think anyone replaced me where I was appointed to
serve."
It's easy for us to exhibit a spirit of false humility by implying that
we are expendable to God - by saying that there is always someone else
God can use in our stead. That excuse "won't wash" with God. Moses
learned that lesson at the "burning bush" when, after making every
excuse he could think of for not answering God's call for him to lead
Israel out of Egypt, he told God, "O my Lord, send. I pray thee by the
hand of him whom thou wilt send." Transposed into our vernacular, he
actually was decisively telling God, "O my Lord, send someone else"
(Exodus 4:13). God's reaction to the words of Moses indicates that
Moses' rejection of the commission was rude and forceful. "And the anger
of the Lord was kindled against Moses . . ." (verse 14). It is
improbable that God considered Moses expendable, though it is evident
that Moses thought of himself as replaceable.
As stated above, "Rationalizing our disobedience to God makes excuse
givers of us all." Both Moses and King Saul rationalized their
disobedience. Their motives were different - the disobedience of Moses
was motivated by fear, while that of King Saul was motivated by
arrogance - but the disobedience of both was rooted in that same
inclination that prompts all of us to offer excuses for not obeying God.
Moses offered excuses for not immediately doing what God called him to
do. King Saul offered excuses for doing what he was not called by God to
do.
According to the Book of First Samuel, chapter fifteen, the Lord sent
the Prophet Samuel to anoint Saul as the first king of Israel. Through
Samuel, God immediately gave him a commission to declare war on the
nation of Amalek. "Thus saith the Lord of Host, I remember that which
Amalek did to Israel, how he laid in wait for him [Israel] in the way,
when he [Israel] came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and
utterly destroy all that they have . . . But Saul and the people spared
Agag [the king of Amalek], and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen,
and the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not
utterly destroy: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they
destroyed utterly" (1st Samuel 15: 2-3).
But God had commanded that all the spoils of the war with Amalek be
destroyed, not just that which was "vile and refuse." It is dangerous to
attempt to second-guess God and rationalize one's disobedience to Him.
It was this tendency in Saul that initiated his rejection by God. Rather
than destroy all the spoils and then wait patiently for the coming of
the Prophet Samuel as instructed, he did things his own way and
therefore forfeited the permanency of his family's reign on the throne
of Israel
(1st Samuel 13:13-14).
Read the history of King Saul and contrast it to that of King David.
David, who also was not a perfect man, was considered "a man after his
[the Lord's] own heart" (1st Samuel 13:14). The phrase appears
inappropriate when one considers David's conduct in the light of his
relationship to Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, the Hittite, one of his
most loyal military officers. David's conduct in this situation marks
him as a conniving, adulterous, wife stealing, murderer, who manipulated
the assassination of Uriah in order to hide his own adultery with the
officer's wife. If we compare the guilt of David to that of Saul,
David's guilt appears much weightier. How, then, could Samuel refer to
him as "a man after his [the Lord's] own heart?"
The question is answered when one notes that Saul excused his willful
disobedience, while David admitted his sin and acknowledged God's
justice in punishing him. God sent the Prophet Nathan to confront David
with his crime. To do so, Nathan told him the story of a rich man with
many flocks and a poor man who owned only one ewe lamb that he kept as a
family pet. One day, a traveler visited the rich man. In preparing a
meal for the traveler, rather than taking an animal form his flocks, the
rich man took the poor man's lamb, dressed it and served it as a meal
(2nd Samuel 12: 1-5).).
The story aroused David's hypocritical, unrighteous indignation! "And
David's "anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to
Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall
surely die: . . . because he had no pity" (verses 5-6).
"Thou art the man," Nathan accused the king (verse 9). .
Through Nathan, God pronounced His sentence on the man after His own
heart. God did not spare him; the punishment was heavy and grievous. One
may find it recorded in 2 Samuel 12: 7-23. David did not justify his
sins and - contrary to Saul - he accepted God's judgment upon him
without making excuses.
Because the history of the disobedience of Saul and David is not
pleasant reading, some may tend to disregard it as inappropriate,
negative teaching that offers no positive encouragement to a
relationship with God. However, one of the most outstanding Old
Testament lessons is this account of how to react after God disciplines
one of His children.
"Then David arose from the earth, [He had been in prolonged fasting
prayer for the life of the child conceived as a result his adultery with
Bathsheba] and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel,
and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped . . ." (2 Samuel 12:
20).
According to His own purposes, God chose to not grant David's request
for life of the child. David accepted God's will without question and
entered the house of the Lord and worshipped. He thus acknowledged the
justice of God's dealings with him.
-30-
© Josprel (Joseph Perrello)
josprel@verizon.net
About the Author:
Josprel is an ordained minister, who resides with his
wife, Maria, in Western New. Though brought by devout parents, he
abandoned both the Church and religion at an early age, not returning to
them until several years later. He served three years in the Far East
with the U.S. Air Force. He then was separated from active duty and
placed on a ten-year reserve status. He studied for the ministry under
the G.I Bill of Rights, and holds a master of theology degree. He
currently is authoring two novels, "Beloved Apostate" and "Kanfal."
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