Excuses Don't Lead to Righteousness: 1 Samuel 13:8-14
When we make excuses and pass blame to others instead of acknowledging our mistakes, we make it difficult for God to use us. Leadership is about making decisions and acting upon them. Sometimes leaders get it wrong. God can work through mistakes when we acknowledge them and demonstrate capacity to change. When we fail to acknowledge our mistakes, our heart is hardened and we give God little material with which to work.
Saul’s army is deserting. He needs something to stop the bleeding. Samuel appointed a time to appear, but he is late. Saul believes evidence of God fighting for them will embolden his troops, convince them to stay, and perhaps convince others to join the fight against the Philistines. In Samuel’s absence, Saul performs the sacrifice.
From the perspective of Christ, we might wonder what is wrong with Saul offering a sacrifice. We are the priesthood of all believers. Do we need an arbiter between us and God other than Christ? The answer is no.
The issue isn’t Saul’s sacrifice. The issue is Saul’s treatment of the sacrifice. Saul, like the sons of Eli, treat the things of God as a forced ritual. Saul believes the sacrifice will force God to fight for them, emboldening the warriors to stay. Rather than going before God and inquiring what to do, Saul makes a sacrifice. He could have prayed or even continued patiently waiting for Samuel to advise him of God’s will. Instead, Saul tries to force God’s hand.
Saul continues to compound mistakes. Saul isn’t particularly honest when Samuel investigates his action. Saul doesn’t lie, but he certainly paints himself as an innocent. He claims to have had no option but being forced to make the sacrifice. This is the beginning of deflecting blame. Samuel didn’t come when he said, so Saul was forced to make the sacrifice himself. The warriors were deserting him, forcing him to believe the sacrifice was imminently necessary. Instead of acknowledging his thought mistaken thought process, Saul deflects blame to other people.
Two kinds of people exist. There are those who accomplish goals and there are those who make excuses. The people who get results may not always get the result they sought, but they still get a result. When athletes line up to compete, not everyone can win. A person with a results mindset understands that taking second place to a clearly better athlete is still a good result. The athlete can even honor the better athlete’s performance while acknowledging their result. The person who makes excuses finds reasons explaining why they didn’t win.
Saul continues to make poor leadership choices and covers his actions with excuses. It costs him the kingdom. He has already demonstrated his heart to God, and it is not what God desires. God understands our imperfection. God can forgive and work with our imperfection. When we make excuses and pass blame to others instead of acknowledging our mistakes, we make it difficult for God to use us.
