The slippery road of a half truth

Ever been caught in a half truth and tried to squirm your way out of it? All the while knowing what you are saying is not completely right but enough to sound like the truth?
The problem with a half truth is it is also a half lie.
The Bible is an open book revealing flaws in ordinary people we sometimes elevate because of the extraordinary feats God accomplished through them.  God did not require perfection from them, only obedience...the same he requires from us today.  1 Samuel 15 is a perfect example of this.

Because of the opposition the nation of Amalek gave to the Israelites when they were passing through from Egypt, God decided to destroy their nation...everything and everyone.  Saul was given this mission to accomplish.
Enter half-truth half-lie.  Saul tries to convince the prophet Samuel he has accomplished the entire mission.  Samuel's response, “Then what is all the bleating of sheep and goats and the lowing of cattle I hear?” Gotcha, caught in the half-truth.  Saul squirms, blames his army (not once but twice) and then sugar coats the disobedience with the God element.   “It’s true that the army spared the best of the sheep, goats, and cattle,” Saul admitted. “But they are going to sacrifice them to the Lord your God. We have destroyed everything else.”

Just because Saul, you or I put the God element in the mix still doesn't make a half truth a whole truth.  Notice it was not Saul's God he refers to but Samuel's God.  Big clue into the condition of Saul's heart.

Again Samuel called him out on the lie: "Why haven’t you obeyed the Lord? 

 “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul insisted. “I carried out the mission he gave me. I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed everyone else.  Then my troops brought in the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and plunder to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”

 But Samuel replied,

“What is more pleasing to the Lord:
    your burnt offerings and sacrifices
    or your obedience to his voice?
Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice,
    and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.
 Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft,
    and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.
So because you have rejected the command of the Lord,
    he has rejected you as king.”

Saul had no idea the web he was spinning would become the entrapment that would change the course of his life.  Rebellion and stubbornness in our lives are like threads woven together that reflect beauty on the outside but one false move and that pattern becomes the sticky chords of entrapment and death.  Half truths always end this way, we just can't predict the moment.