1 Samuel 15:14-16 Blind Spots!

 ”But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” Then Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet! And I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak on.”“ ‭‭I Samuel‬ ‭15‬:‭14‬-‭16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?The livestock that God clearly commanded to be killed could be heard, seen, and smelled even as Saul said, “I have performed the commandment of the LORD.”

i. Pride and disobedience make us blind – or deaf – to our sin. What was completely obvious to Samuel was invisible to Saul. We all have blind spots to sin in our lives, and we need to constantly ask God to show them to us. We need to sincerely pray the prayer of Psalm 139:23-24: Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

b. They have brought them…the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen: This is the first of a series of excuses from Saul – he blamed the people, not himself. Second, he included himself in the obedience (the rest we have utterly destroyed). Third, he justified what he kept because of its fine quality (the best of the sheep and the oxen). Fourth, he claimed to do it for a spiritual reason (to sacrifice to the LORD your God).

i. In his pride and self-deception, this all made perfect sense to Saul, but it meant nothing to God and Samuel. In fact, it was worse than nothing – it showed that Saul was desperately trying to excuse his sin by word games and half-truths.

ii. But even in his excuse, Saul revealed the real problem: he had a poor relationship with God. Notice how he spoke of God to Samuel: “to sacrifice to the LORD your God.” The LORD was not Saul’s God. Saul was Saul’s God. The LORD was the God of Samuel, not Saul. In his pride, Saul removed the LORD God from the throne of his heart.

iii. “O sinners, you do miscalculate fearfully when you give to God’s servants such false explanations of your sins!” (Blaikie)

(Guzik)

Blind Spots!

“We all have blind spots to sin in our lives”

Why is it we have blind spots to our sin but we see the sin of others? 

I am reminded of a verse: ”Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?“ Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“Pride and disobedience make us blind – or deaf – to our sin.”

I need to pray this verse daily!

Psalm 139:23-24: Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Will you join me?

Blessings