Too often I hear news of leaders, in the church or outside, misusing their positions of authority. Every time, I want to ask, \u201cHow did it get to this point? What could have prevented this?\u201d In some cases, investigative news stories or podcasts emerge that give a fuller picture of the story. While details vary, one element is always present: self-deception. Leaders deceive themselves into thinking what they are doing is not wrong or is excusable, and others deceive themselves into thinking the leader\u2019s conduct is justified. When we deceive ourselves, we really are saying that we don\u2019t want to know the whole truth because it might threaten what is really important to us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The story of Saul, the first king of Israel, is a story of self-deception. Even though the people of Israel had rejected God and requested a king like the surrounding nations, God was gracious and gave them a ruler who could have been a different kind of king\u2014one who depended on God for guidance and security. Saul is described as a physically impressive man, one willing to follow the word of God as given to him by the prophet Samuel. However, Saul did not turn out to be that kind of king. His hearing was always a little selective\u2014sometimes following Samuel\u2019s instructions and sometimes bending the rules to fit what he thought was best. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Saul\u2019s double-mindedness and double-speak came to a head in 1 Samuel 15. While he attacked the Amalekites, he did not fully destroy them as God had commanded. Saul then deceived himself into believing that he had done what was required, greeting Samuel with the words, \u201cI have carried out the LORD\u2019s instructions\u201d (1Samuel 15:13). When confronted with evidence that he in fact did not do as God has said, Saul deflected blame (v.15). Samuel asked, \u201cAlthough you once considered yourself unimportant, haven\u2019t you become the leader of the tribes of Israel?\u201d (v.17). Saul had forgotten God\u2019s anointing and made himself big, still insisting, \u201cBut I did obey the LORD!\u201d (v. 20). Samuel didn\u2019t buy it, responding, \u201cto obey is better than sacrifice\u201d (v. 22). And most condemning of all, God rejected Saul as king.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think Saul\u2019s story is a warning to all of us. How do we deceive ourselves into believing that God is interested in success on the world\u2019s terms? Are a well-spoken and physically attractive leader, a growing church or business, or money pouring in sure signs of His favor? Over time, Saul became more like the kings of the nations, often paying lip service to the worship of God then turning to act out of his own self-interest. And like Saul, some of these may actually be monuments we\u2019ve erected to ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can deceive ourselves into looking to outward appearances for salvation from perceived enemies. We can also deceive ourselves into believing we are serving God while we build monuments that will not last. God, save us from self-deception and humbly return us to You.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Written by Elliot Ritzema<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Too often I hear news of leaders, in the church or outside, misusing their positions of authority. Every time, I want to ask, \u201cHow did it get to this point? What could have prevented this?\u201d In some cases, investigative news stories or podcasts emerge that give a fuller picture of the story. While details vary, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":72157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[298],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pitot"],"acf":{"hero_background_image":false,"related_plans":[72122],"weekly_truth":false,"grace_day":false,"share_text":"#HeReadsTruth","devotional_text":"SAUL<\/b> Too often I hear news of leaders, in the church or outside, misusing their positions of authority. Every time, I want to ask, \u201cHow did it get to this point? What could have prevented this?\u201d In some cases, investigative news stories or podcasts emerge that give a fuller picture of the story. While details vary, one element is always present: self-deception. Leaders deceive themselves into thinking what they are doing is not wrong or is excusable, and others deceive themselves into thinking the leader\u2019s conduct is justified. When we deceive ourselves, we really are saying that we don\u2019t want to know the whole truth because it might threaten what is really important to us.<\/p> The story of Saul, the first king of Israel, is a story of self-deception. Even though the people of Israel had rejected God and requested a king like the surrounding nations, God was gracious and gave them a ruler who could have been a different kind of king\u2014one who depended on God for guidance and security. Saul is described as a physically impressive man, one willing to follow the word of God as given to him by the prophet Samuel. However, Saul did not turn out to be that kind of king. His hearing was always a little selective\u2014sometimes following Samuel\u2019s instructions and sometimes bending the rules to fit what he thought was best.<\/p> Saul\u2019s double-mindedness and double-speak came to a head in 1 Samuel 15. While he attacked the Amalekites, he did not fully destroy them as God had commanded. Saul then deceived himself into believing that he had done what was required, greeting Samuel with the words, \u201cI have carried out the LORD\u2019s instructions\u201d (1Samuel 15:13). When confronted with evidence that he in fact did not do as God has said, Saul deflected blame (v.15). Samuel asked, \u201cAlthough you once considered yourself unimportant, haven\u2019t you become the leader of the tribes of Israel?\u201d (v.17). Saul had forgotten God\u2019s anointing and made himself big, still insisting, \u201cBut I did obey the LORD!\u201d (v. 20). Samuel didn\u2019t buy it, responding, \u201cto obey is better than sacrifice\u201d (v. 22). And most condemning of all, God rejected Saul as king.<\/p> I think Saul\u2019s story is a warning to all of us. How do we deceive ourselves into believing that God is interested in success on the world\u2019s terms? Are a well-spoken and physically attractive leader, a growing church or business, or money pouring in sure signs of His favor? Over time, Saul became more like the kings of the nations, often paying lip service to the worship of God then turning to act out of his own self-interest. And like Saul, some of these may actually be monuments we\u2019ve erected to ourselves.<\/p> We can deceive ourselves into looking to outward appearances for salvation from perceived enemies. We can also deceive ourselves into believing we are serving God while we build monuments that will not last. God, save us from self-deception and humbly return us to You.<\/p>","share_image_height":"640","day_number":"26","scripture":"1 Samuel 9:1-2, 1 Samuel 9:17-19, 1 Samuel 9:26-27, 1 Samuel 10:1-10, 1 Samuel 10:17-24, 1 Samuel 15:1-29, 1 Samuel 15:34-35","available":true,"ad_banner_name":"","ad_banner_image":false,"ad_banner_url":"","songs":"","key_verse":"","key_verse_reference":"","background_image":false,"background_color":"#FBF7F3","scripture_references":false,"share_image":false,"author_name":"","author_bio":"","guest_social_media":false,"show_ad":true,"ad_override":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shereadstruth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\r\nby Elliot Ritzema<\/i>
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