1 Samuel 15:13 (NKJV)
“Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, ‘Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.’”

It’s one thing to honestly make a mistake and be sorry about it. It’s something else to be deceitful about your errors and create pretense around your actions. I don’t think failure is the greatest problem with the spiritual life. The real tragedy is deception.

Deception is an attempt to falsify information and intentionally create a wrong impression before people. If we fall into sin or some form of disobedience, and we recognize our errors and confess them, God is faithful and just to forgive. If we cover up our failures and pretend like they did not happen, there is no opportunity for forgiveness but rather judgment.

Once we have started the slippery slope of backsliding, deception is the very next phase. There are two sides to this, and self-deception is the first. Until we have succeeded to first deceive ourselves, we cannot deceive others. However, once self-deception has succeeded, it becomes easy to pretend and falsify the truth to create a “fake scenario” for others.

Paradoxically, the backslidden pilgrim is also able to communicate his falsehood with such passion and conviction, even though deep in his heart, he knows he is lying. It is painful to see these backslidden brethren forcefully arguing a cause that is not true, and yet they want the world to believe them, and support them in their falsehood. So sad! Such deception.

Note that Samuel did not ask Saul anything. Saul saw Samuel and immediately said, “Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” I believe Saul’s heart knew he had not fully obeyed God, and he wanted to pre-empt Saul by flattering him first and then deceiving him next. That was intentional deception at work. But Samuel saw through it all.

Don’t let your heart deceive you. Be ruthless with your heart. Whenever you begin to give explanations for your disobedience, backsliding is setting in through self-deception. If you succeed in curbing self-deception, you will stop backsliding in its tracts. The moment you stop self-deception, there will be no opportunity to deceive anyone else.

A final word on this. Be like Samuel. Don’t transact with anyone who deals in deception. Don’t allow yourself to be dragged into their nets. Where you can, expose the deception. Where you can’t, step away from it before you get entwined in it. Deception is dangerous yeast.