1 Sam. 15-16
Saul once again disobeyed the command of the LORD. And once again he deluded himself into believing that he did the ‘godly’ thing. His excuse was that they kept the best of the plunder to sacrifice to God. The LORD does indeed prefer obedience to sacrifice, as Samuel pointed out. It is funny how we try to convince ourselves (and others) that the seemingly good things that we do are for God when they really aren’t and, in fact, are often in direct disobedience to God. Jesus addressed this with the Pharisees, noting how they would use the law to justify their mistreatment of others.
Samuel also stated that presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Ouch. I’m not sure exactly what the word “presumption” means in this verse but, looking it up, it seems that it can mean either of two things, both of which I think apply here. It can mean taking for granted that you are doing what God wants because the thing you are doing seems good to you (like Saul offering the best of the spoils to God). Or it can mean having an arrogant disregard of God’s authority (as Saul did when he did what he thought was best instead of obeying God’s command to the letter). There is a fine line between the two, but the bottom line is that Saul believed that he could do what seemed best to him and could pass that off as godly and obedient action. The truth is that it was neither.
Again, how often do we find ourselves doing a similar thing – making decisions based on what WE think is good or right and trying to disguise our disobedience as something godly? God knows what He wants, and that is not ours to second guess. We need only to obey. God give me a humble and obedient heart!
Luke 20:1-26
Pride is a grievous thing. It has a way of blinding us to the truth that is right in front of our faces. I have seen this fact demonstrated so blatantly – in myself and in others – many times. And the Jewish religious leaders demonstrated it as well in the first seven verses of Luke 20. Jesus asked them a question that forced them to face a truth they did not want to admit. But instead of opening their eyes, softening their hearts, and swallowing their pride to admit what they didn’t want to admit, they dodged the issue so that they could continue in their delusion. In their case, their eternal souls were the high price of their pride.