I Was Wrong

And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the LORD. I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.” 1 Samuel 15:20-21

As a physician, I’ve made mistakes that have had to be addressed. It’s always painful to admit failure, but I don’t want to repeat my mistakes and so, I’ve had to admit I was wrong, accept correction, and learn from it. On the other side, I’ve also had to be involved in correcting others. When doing so, it usually goes one of two ways. The other person either takes responsibility and accepts correction, or they deflect, make excuses, and blame others. It’s a natural response. It’s never easy to say, I was wrong. Our first and most natural impulse is to deflect, pointing towards the failures of others. Not my fault.

This is exactly what King Saul did in today’s passage. In the story, God instructed Saul to destroy the Amalekites, their king, and their livestock. Instead, he spared their king and kept the livestock. At this point, the prophet Samuel confronted Saul. Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD (1 Samuel 15:19)? In response, Saul should have admitted his sin and begged forgiveness. Instead, he insisted that he had obeyed God, and that it was his people who kept the animals. I did everything God asked. It was those people who sinned (my paraphrase).

When being corrected, it’s always tempting for the one being corrected to deflect. It hurts to admit failure. The one doing the correcting though, needs to hear the admission. If the one at fault refuses to admit fault, then nothing will ever change. I need to hear you say that you understand.

We can’t change others. We can only change ourselves. As long as our life problems are everyone else’s fault, we will remain helpless victims, blind to our own failures, unable to change the trajectory of our lives. Admitting responsibility doesn’t remove all our flaws, but we can’t take the first steps towards change until we admit our own failures. I need to hear you say that you understand.