Don't Make Excuses

# 169 - Today's Du-votional comes from: 1Sa 13:11,12 “And Samuel said, "What have you done?" And Saul said, "When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, 12 "then I said, 'The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the LORD.' Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering." (1 Sam 13:11,12) Saul has sinned. He did not do as the Lord commanded. When confronted with his sin, by Samuel, Saul breaks out his excuses. Let's not be too hard on Saul though, we very often do the same thing. His first excuse was that he felt like he was the only one. All the people had scattered. Sometimes when we feel abandoned, we are especially vulnerable to sin. Next, he felt abandoned by God. Samuel had not shown up early enough for Saul, and so he let impatience take over. How many times do we act impatiently because we are not hearing from God. How many times do we take the silence of God as a green light to plow ahead with our own plans. Plans that often are in violation of God's commands. And how many times does temptation press in on us as the Philistines were pressing in on Saul, and we panic and do something stupid. Saul paid a severe price for his sin as we shall see. Sin has consequences. It would be so much wiser for you and I to exercise patient obedience. And it also would be wise to put a sock in our mouth when it comes to excuses. How much better to imitate David when he was confronted with his sin with Bathsheeba by Nathan. He didn't whine about the fact that he was alone while the men were out to war. He didn't say, “she was bathing in full view, I'm only human,” No! He said, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. (2 Sam 12:13) I pray, we all can say no to temptation, but if we do fail, let's fess up like David did and receive God's forgiveness.