A Misinformed Conscience

A GPS (Global Positioning System) is terrific; most of us use it constantly. However, the GPS depends on data downloaded from satellites. As long as that data is correct, we get to our destinations. Still, it can send us away from our goal if the data is incomplete. So it is with our conscience. A good conscience helps guide us in our journey through life and assists us in knowing the difference between right and wrong.

However, a conscience can be misinformed; when that happens, we will not feel guilt or make informed decisions regarding right and wrong. We can be going in the wrong direction but be convinced we are right.

Once on a work project, I had a guy digging a trench. I had put up a string and instructed him to follow the line. As he dug, he kept pushing the string further away. When I noticed what he had done, I had him step back, and the string snapped back in place, and he was two feet away from the string. Our conscience can be pushed away from God’s guidelines for our lives in we repeatedly ignore its warnings.

King Saul was an example of someone who had a misinformed conscience. He completely disobeyed the Lord’s commands and yet felt no guilt. Saul seems to believe that he had done nothing wrong and had entirely carried out the Lord’s instructions. His deception was acute, but sin has a way of distorting our thinking and causing us to rationalize.

Rationalization is a way of explaining bad behavior in a way that makes it seem proper. King Saul was a master at it. Chapter 15 of 1 Samuel is an insightful study of the deceptive power of sin. It reveals its power and destructive nature as Saul rationalizes his choices that led to his sin of disobedience. The sinfulness that leads to disobedience often blinds the sinner to the reality of their disobedience. But as in the experience of Saul, a clear conscience is no guarantee of innocence.

It takes the probing work of the word of God to bring us to the recognition of our sin. The writer of the book of Hebrews says that “the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). God’s word can cut through all the deception and duplicity if we listen to it.