Samuel (finctionally) answered David’s question, “How leaders at the pinnacle of power can avoid self-deception since they answer to no one?”
1 Samuel 15:22–23 (NIV)
22Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 23For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”
My son in the faith, David
I am humbled by your earnest quest for wisdom from your letter. You asked, “How leaders at the pinnacle of power can avoid self-deception since they answer to no one?” It’s a challenging question.
But we have a challenging God who gives us reality checks. I speak from experience. My own sons, whom I had hoped would follow in my footsteps, strayed from the path of righteousness [1]. Their failure was a mirror reflecting my own limitations and vulnerabilities. It forced me to reevaluate not just my leadership but my personal walk with God. Such moments are God’s way of keeping us grounded and vigilant.
I also see a shift in checks and balances in the national power structure. I realized this in the grip of fear, as when I was sent to anoint you, wary of Saul’s watchful eyes [2]. I was at the pinnacle of leadership, but now there is more accountability among the echelons. I see the hand of God weaving a tapestry of balanced power among the Prophet, the King, and the Priest. This plurality of leadership will serve as a safeguard against the isolation and self-deception that can plague those who stand alone at the top. So fear not, David; even at the summit, God will tether us to humility and truth.
But the cornerstone of accountability is trust. This true friendship is rare in the king’s court. Can we trust that our friends will hold our secrets as sacred? Can we trust that their love for us is not conditional upon our virtues but extends even into the dark caverns of our vices? For if we doubt their love, we will find ourselves crafting masks and illusions, deceiving even the very mechanisms designed to unveil our self-deception. This is why true unconditional love is a rarity. Yet, when found, it becomes our fiercest ally against the snares of self-deception and pride. Who do you have as true friends there?
You have been at the court for a while now. Perhaps it’s time to take a leave of absence and return to Bethlehem. Your father is aging, and with the war conscription of your older brothers, he undoubtedly needs your help. Tending to your father’s sheep may seem mundane, but God often speaks in the lowly places, away from the noise and distractions of fame.
May God continue to guide and bless you, David. Keep these words close to your heart.
Your Father in the Faith,
Samuel
Share with your friends, “What do you think about the idea of being held accountable by reality-checks from God?”
[1] Samuel’s sons, Joel and Abijah, are mentioned in 1 Samuel 8:1-3. According to the text, Samuel appointed his sons as judges over Israel. Unfortunately, they did not follow in their father’s footsteps when it came to integrity and faithfulness. The Bible states that they “did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.” Their behavior was one of the catalysts that led the elders of Israel to approach Samuel and ask for a king to rule over them.
[2] 1 Samuel 16:2
I think that ‘reality checks’ can be times when God humbles us. I was sued once by a patient who had undiagnosed diabetes when she was pregnant. She ended up in a diabetic coma and suffered a miscarriage.
Her obstetrician, the laboratory and the hospital all had already settled out of court for over a millions dollars . I was the last one to be sued. My case never went to court and I was exonerated of any wrongdoing but the entire ordeal was pretty terrible.
With my lips I was praising God for the success of the clinic but in my heart, I thought it was the fruit of my hard work and right decisions.
“But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
James 4:6-8
Whenever I’m being held accountable by reality checks from God, it always reminds me of His love and His goodness. Like I said before, it is one of the most humble things that I can experience. I sinned and I didn’t know about it. But through His love, his grace, and mercy, he brought me back. He extended His grace time and time again even though I don’t deserve any of it. Sometimes God gives us warnings but we choose to ignore them. Only a reality check can fully grab our attention. And when I reflect back, those events molded me to become more like Christ. I grew more spiritually and I learned to depend on God more. So I pray that God creates a pure heart and renews a steadfast spirit in me every day. And that I will come to Christ with full submission and obedience to His words.
(from Steve)
In all honesty, reality checks from God in my past life during my addiction and alcoholism I hated God because I felt like God hated me and brought forth all my shortcomings and I really felt like he gave me nothing but misery, but in actuality I was the one chasing my own misery. Today I’m able to see things and God in a different light, especially when God let me hit rock bottom and lose everything I took for granted, he literally took my legs away so I couldn’t walk, he took my arms away so I couldn’t feed myself or bathe, but when I saw what I was doing to myself and I was physically dead, he held me up and lifted me up spiritually so I had just enough to reach out to pastor Bumble, Don and huy for help which brought me back to God slowly but surely. Eventually God started giving me back the things I took for granted like I was saying about my arms and legs 😁🙏☝️
I like this …”God often speaks in the lowly places, away from the noise and distractions of fame”. Wow. So true. God has address things I need to change about myself when I get into arguments or relationships strain with people. The last time this happened was with my sister, we went at it. But I felt so low at that point and disappointed in myself for saying such things. God really pruned me during that time to be a better sister. He humbles us so that our pride won’t get in the way in helping us to see our sins.
But God’s reality checks can backfire as well. We can respond defensively and still blame others and God for the situation. praying God will help my heart to be teachable.
I think that we all need reality checks from God. He reminds us daily that we need Him. We need His strength, His wisdom, His discernment to guide us in our every day life-at work, at home, from daily decisions to big life-changing ones. I know I definitely need His strength and wisdom everyday at work. I know that the reality check itself may not feel “good” at the moment, but we know that it is because He loves us. As we walk with Him, we’re being refined to become more like Him and He uses reality checks to help us not stray away but to walk with Him daily.
I think being held accountable by reality-checks from God can be difficult and humbling but is the best accountability we can have. The reading says trust is the cornerstone of accountability and who is better for us to trust than God. We know He has the best plan for us and deeply loves us unconditionally. It is an opportunity for us to experience God’s deep presence, transformation, and grace.
I think it will be great to get a reality check by God. I have in the past and it’s always a great experience and always draws me close to him. if God kept me accountable by reality checks it would mean that he is trying to tell me something or let me know I’m doing something wrong. Which I think is something I need.
I think reality checks are the only way to hold us accountable. Without facing the truth with humility, we’d never recognize our sin and come to God in repentance. Just as the excerpt read, we need trust, trust that God’s love and grace are given to us freely and that we don’t need to prove anything or earn approval. With that, we can also trust the people God has placed in our lives to call us out with reality checks knowing that it’s coming from a good place spurring us to reflect, repent, and pray
From sister Rose tonight
Being held responsible through reality checks from God is humbling. As I mentioned before, I took a step down from leadership in the beginning of 2023 for a few reasons and in the time I was in leadership, I thought I had it all together. I looked the part, said the right things and followed ideas that I thought were biblical but it actually wasn’t. My reality check from God came during a time where I was forced to be alone. In that time, I faced my darkest of times and saw how me being in leadership caused more pain than good in some of the relationships that I had in the years past. He showed me how flawed I really was and he broke my heart down until I couldn’t do anything other than to listen to Him and come to terms with who I was and faced my flaws.
As much as I did not like how I felt but in the end, it actually bared fruit and took me to a different place where being in leadership was no longer something I held my worth to but rather I focused on the brokenness around me. What especially stood out to me in this story is “Tending to your father’s sheep may seem mundane, but God often speaks in the lowly places, away from the noise and distractions of fame.” This could not be more true for me because the time away from the leadership role, God allowed me to be used elsewhere. I drained out the noise of what others thought about me and my choices to just hearing where God was leading me and to where I felt that he wanted to use my talents.
So as much as I dread being held accountable by God, I also yearn for it because ultimately I yearn to be obedient even though I fall short most of the time.
Being held responsible for your own, sinful actions from the Lord is a humbling experience for me, as it helps knock my pride and ego down. Without the Lord, I would continue to go about and not take responsibility for my own actions, even when I’m in the wrong. When the Lord “reality-checks” me, He will guarantee that I am held accountable for my own actions, which at first, will not feel good, but eventually I will come to realize what the Lord did was good and beneficial for my growth as a person.