Did you ever get feedback that you didn’t like? Did you ever have someone tell you something that was disagreeable or unwanted? I’ve had a variety of experiences when someone told me something I didn’t like, stuff I didn’t want to hear and even correction that was unpleasant. How we navigate things that we don’t want to hear is important. Positive navigation can be an upgrade, but negative reactions can be detrimental.
In this blog, we’ll look at an example of navigating correction constructively for an upgrade and an example of negative navigation that was harmful and destructive.
For our negative example, let’s consider the interaction between Saul and Samuel in 1 Samuel 15 when Saul was confronted about his disobedience to God’s directive. At the beginning of the chapter, Samuel instructed Saul to wholly destroy the Amalekites, including all of their livestock. Saul followed Samuel’s directive, but not entirely because he didn’t kill the Amalekite king and he preserved the best sheep, oxen, lambs and everything that was valuable.
Because of Saul’s disobedience, Samuel confronted him. Saul tried to wiggle around and justify his decision, explaining that they kept all of the valuable livestock to make a sacrifice to God. Saul didn’t receive Samuel’s correction, he didn’t repent, he wasn’t honest and two times he gave a sketchy answer to Samuel – consider 1 Samuel 15:14-15 and verses 19-20. Samuel’s correction was an opportunity for Saul to repent and have an upgrade in his leadership, but that’s not what he chose. Consequently, Israel was ultimately taken away from Saul and even worse, Saul’s relationship with God deteriorated to the place that he no longer received input or direction from God.
For a positive example on receiving correction and choosing an upgrade, consider how David replied to the prophet Nathan when he was confronted about his sin with Bathsheba. All of these events are described in 2 Samuel 11-12. As for the confrontation from Nathan to David, you can read about this in 2 Samuel 12:1-12. David’s reply to Nathan’s correction is drastically different than how Saul responded to Samuel. David didn’t evade, justify, explain or use his position as king to validate his actions. Instead, this is what he said, in 2 Samuel 12:13, “Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, “The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.”
David lost the first son he conceived with Bathsheba. But after getting married, Bathsheba became pregnant with Solomon. In thinking about upgrades, one could make the case that Israel reached it’s pinnacle under the leadership of Solomon. As for David, he commissioned Solomon to build God’s temple in Jerusalem and this was the very first permanent structure devoted to worshipping God and it’s splendor is renowned throughout history.
So, if we want to receive upgrades in our lives, we need to consider how we receive correction, unkind or undesirable feedback. I can appreciate that it’s helpful when the correction that we receive is gentle and gracious. However, regardless of how the feedback or correction is delivered, we would be wise to reflect and process rather than react and reject or deflect. Correction and feedback can definitely help us to experience upgrades in our lives!
