‘Tis Easier to Ask Forgiveness than Permission

We’ve all heard that reasoning, right? The message is this: go ahead and do whatever you want, and just ask for people to forgive you when it blows up in your (and sometimes their) face. It seems that people of all walks of life rely on this reasoning at one point or another. Whether it is the CEO of a corporation who is making a decision the investors won’t like or an entry level employee at a fast food restaurant who leaves a job undone so they can leave early. Both would say with a grin, “Better to ask forgiveness than permission, right?” What they really mean is, “I’m going to do what I want, and I don’t care what you say.” Saul, the first human king of Israel, found out that this reasoning doesn’t fly with God.

In 1 Samuel 15:1-3, Samuel gave strict orders to Saul and the people of Israel to utterly destroy everything in Amalek. Nothing from that place was to be left alive, not an animal, not a person. In verse 9, however, we find that Saul and the people decided that it would be “better to ask forgiveness than permission” and just take the best of everything and capture King Agag instead of utterly destroying everything like they were supposed to. They did what they wanted, and it didn’t matter to them what God said.

When Samuel came to Saul after that battle, Saul greeted him as though nothing was wrong at all. He even went so far as to say to Samuel, “I have carried out the command of the Lord!” Liar. Samuel called his bluff, too. His response is, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” If Saul had done as the Lord commanded, there would be no living thing left from Amalek, and yet there they were! Saul had done what he wanted, and he didn’t really care what God originally said.

As Samuel confronted Saul with his sins, Saul pled with Samuel for forgiveness and to be pardoned rather than punished. Samuel assures Saul that pardon will not be his, but rather that his kingdom has been ripped from him, and that it has been given to another who is more worthy.

There’s an attitude that God has a problem with here: the attitude that takes forgiveness for granted and stops caring about the pain we cause Him by our disobedience. In God’s case, it is better to ask permission rather than forgiveness. God is pleased when we consult His will first. We show Him respect and honor when we consult His will first. When we decide to do as we please, however, we dishonor Him and treat Him as inferior. When we stop caring about the pain and anguish we cause God when we sin, we’re in a whole heap of trouble.

Let’s remember the suffering Jesus endured for us, and remember the price that was paid so that we could have forgiveness. Let’s let our sins cause true, godly sorrow in us. Let that sorrow bring you to repentance, and a renewed dedication to God and to doing what is right in His eyes, rather than in our own.

²² Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.

-1 Samuel 15:22 (NASB95)