One day, The Spirit began a conversation with this question:
Do you realize the importance of maintaining a clear conscience?
I can tell you, I was aware He knew my thoughts, as I replied to him:
“Well, I’m not sure if I pay attention to maintaining a good conscience, as much as, I try to avoid the agony of a guilty conscience.”
Then this is what I heard within my spirit:
If you follow your conscience, i.e. maintain your clear conscience, I can protect you.
If you don’t, you deliberately place yourself outside of my protection.
I give believer and unbeliever alike a conscience.
I wanted to be sure I heard The Spirit of God right, so I went to the Word of God.
Well, first I actually googled the definition of conscience, and this is what it said:
Now Abimelek had not gone near her, so he said, “Lord, will you destroy an innocent nation? Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister,’ and didn’t she also say, ‘He is my brother’? I have done this with a clear conscience and clean hands.”
Then God said to him in the dream, “Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience, and so I have kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her. Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all who belong to you will die.”
First, let’s note the two areas bolded above. Abimelek appeals to God by telling him he had done this with a clear conscience. And interestingly God said to him in his dream, “I know you did this with a clear conscience… so I have KEPT YOU FROM SINNING AGAINST ME. That is why I KEPT YOU from touching her.”
All I can say is wow! Not only did God protect Sarah, Abraham’s obedient wife… from disgrace… but he protected Abimelek from sinning with a married woman too!
The king did what he did in clear conscience.
God protected everyone in this situation! …Abraham, Sarah, and Abimelek, and his nation.
But wait, Abimelek still had God put fear in him!
“You are as good as dead” isn’t the way anyone would want to hear God’s voice beginning a conversation with them, Right?! Whew! He was probably sweating with fear in his own dream!
Yet he pleaded he did everything in a clear conscience. And note, that God did “already know this”.
This reveals to us all, that God knows when we are listening and heeding our own consciences!
This knowledge is not hidden from Him… ever…
So cool. He gave the King here “a way out”… of sin… whilst protecting Sarah and Abraham’s marriage bed.
Yet “obedience” to the warning was now being required of Abimelek, or they’d all die!
The chapter goes on to tell us what happened next. Let’s once again look at Genesis 20:8-17 NIV:
“Early the next morning, Abimelek summoned all his officials, and when he told them all that had happened, they were very much afraid.
Then Abimelek called Abraham in and said, “What have you done to us? How have I wronged you that you have brought such great guilt upon me and my kingdom? You have done things to me that should never be done.” And Abimelek asked Abraham, “What was your reason for doing this?”
Abraham replied, “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’ Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father though not of my mother; and she became my wife. And when God had me wander from my father’s household, I said to her, ‘This is how you can show your love to me: Everywhere we go, say of me, “He is my brother.”
To Sarah he said, “I am giving your brother a thousand shekels of silver. This is to cover the offense against you before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated.”
A clear conscience led to the very “ugly situation” ending up “in blessing” for all concerned…i.e. for God’s chosen people (Abraham, Sarah, and their family) who received many material blessings, and the other nation (Abimelek’s family and land) who then had God’s judgment lift off of them.
A clear conscience produces a win-win situation!
Sarah had a clear conscience because as a wife she was obedient to Abraham… for “his safety”… because he was afraid of being killed over her.
Abimelek had a clear conscience because he didn’t know Sarah was married to another man. He wasn’t a god-fearing man and in their culture a man could take more than one wife, but that woman couldn’t belong to another. So his conscience evidently never “troubled” him.
Abraham testifies that his conscience was clear because Sarah was his sister. He was able to marry her because her mother wasn’t the same as his.
You can see that I spoke truth to you, Elizabeth?
Yes, Lord. Please show me more.
The next biblical text speaking of someone’s conscience “speaking to them” was in the account of David, in I Samuel 24:2-5, after cutting off the corning of Saul’s robe. Let’s read that:
He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke of when he said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe.
Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” With these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.
Saul was David’s enemy, and his men wanted him to “take him out”, but David’s conscience bothered him in even cutting off the corner of Saul’s robe, so he chose not to violate his own conscience by harming Saul.
His own men were encouraging him to “take him out”… as in “end his life!”
So, Elizabeth, what was the result of his heeding his own conscience?
Well, Lord, he not only didn’t harm Saul, himself… He told everyone there not to attack Saul, as well!
His actions followed his conscience. Right?
Right! As my people listen to their conscience. This brings forth true repentance.
So now, how did that end… read on:
Okay, Lord, the passage 1 Samuel 24:8-22, let’s us know that not only did it bring forth repentance in David, but seemingly it brought forth repentance in Saul too, as a result of David obeying his own conscience. It reads:
Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. He said to Saul, “Why do you listen when men say, ‘David is bent on harming you’? This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’ See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. See that there is nothing in my hand to indicate that I am guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life. May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you. As the old saying goes, ‘From evildoers come evil deeds,’ so my hand will not touch you.
When David finished saying this, Saul asked, “Is that your voice, David my son?” And he wept aloud. “You are more righteous than I,” he said. “You have treated me well, but I have treated you badly. You have just now told me about the good you did to me; the Lord delivered me into your hands, but you did not kill me. When a man finds his enemy, does he let him get away unharmed? May the Lord reward you well for the way you treated me today. I know that you will surely be king and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hands. Now swear to me by the Lord that you will not kill off my descendants or wipe out my name from my father’s family.”
I underlined where David listened to his conscience; and also where Saul realized his own conscience “was speaking to him”.
I believe Saul was also made aware of God’s protection of him, not just David’s protection of him…for he understood that it was God who gave David “that guilty conscience before he was harmed.”
This then activated his own prophetic gift, and Saul basically “prophesied” to David that he would be the next king.
Does this go along with what I told you as we began this conversation, Elizabeth?
Yes, Lord!
Obeying their consciences, YOU were able to intervene and have YOUR WAY in the situation.
Had neither of them heeded their consciences, serious conflict would have been the result. You wouldn’t have protected either of them in that case, would you? As it was, both got through this encounter without harm, because neither went against their conscience.
Yes, Lord… I know Saul continued down the wrong path…
So Lord, the next thing I see is just down in the next chapter, and this tells us of another disaster avoided by keeping of a clear conscience.
Abigail followed her own conscience, and appealed to David to follow his.
We find this account in 1 Samuel 25:14-35:
One of the servants told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to give our master his greetings, but he hurled insults at them. Yet these men were very good to us. They did not mistreat us, and the whole time we were out in the fields near them nothing was missing. Night and day they were a wall around us the whole time we were herding our sheep near them. Now think it over and see what you can do, because disaster is hanging over our master and his whole household. He is such a wicked man that no one can talk to him.”
When Abigail saw David, she quickly got off her donkey and bowed down before David with her face to the ground. She fell at his feet and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, and let me speak to you; hear what your servant has to say. Please pay no attention, my lord, to that wicked man Nabal. He is just like his name—his name means Fool, and folly goes with him. And as for me, your servant, I did not see the men my lord sent. And now, my lord, as surely as the Lord your God lives and as you live, since the Lord has kept you from bloodshed and from avenging yourself with your own hands, may your enemies and all who are intent on harming my lord be like Nabal. And let this gift, which your servant has brought to my lord, be given to the men who follow you.
“Please forgive your servant’s presumption. The Lord your God will certainly make a lasting dynasty for my lord, because you fight the Lord’s battles, and no wrongdoing will be found in you as long as you live. Even though someone is pursuing you to take your life, the life of my lord will be bound securely in the bundle of the living by the Lord your God, but the lives of your enemies he will hurl away as from the pocket of a sling. When the Lord has fulfilled for my lord every good thing he promised concerning him and has appointed him ruler over Israel, my lord will not have on his conscience the staggering burden of needless bloodshed or of having avenged himself. And when the Lord your God has brought my lord success, remember your servant.”
David said to Abigail, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who has sent you today to meet me. May you be blessed for your good judgment and for keeping me from bloodshed this day and from avenging myself with my own hands. Otherwise, as surely as the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not come quickly to meet me, not one male belonging to Nabal would have been left alive by daybreak.”
Oh wow, God! Abigail caused David’s anger to cease so he “could” hear his own conscience, didn’t she? She appealed to his conscience, in fact… knowing he had one.
Yes, and she listened to her own conscience to act quickly, to go to David.
So let’s finish the story…for I want to reveal something else to you.
Okay Lord. Here is what it continues to say in 1 Samuel 25:36-42…
Then David sent word to Abigail, asking her to become his wife. His servants went to Carmel and said to Abigail, “David has sent us to you to take you to become his wife.”
I’m smiling Lord. Yes, I’ve heard this story before. But you really are amazing! Abigail was rewarded for obeying her conscience, and so was David… for he got the girl! (smile) Abigail was surely a gift to him for obeying his own conscience. She asked that he “remember her” when he was a success and he did. I highly doubt if she was thinking husband when she declared that he remember her.
And she didn’t have a husband when David took her, for you “removed him” from the picture! You, God.
This is what I wanted to share. Each “one” is responsible for his or her “own” conscience.
Lord, I guess I never really thought of this in great detail. But clearly you desire your people to know how you’ve created us.
I just read 2 Samuel 24 wherein David counted his fighting men, and had his conscience stricken afterward. He went to the Lord who brought a judgment and it was not pleasant. But there again, resolution came eventually as repentance came forth.
Then I looked at Job 27:6 wherein Job says:
“I will maintain my righteousness and never let go of it; my conscience will not reproach me as long as I live.”
He clearly knew to follow his conscience, Lord. For he was determined that it would not reproach him as long as he lived.
He desired righteousness, yes. And following a clear conscience does lead toward righteousness.
Okay Lord.
Paul looked straight at the Sanhedrin and said, “My brothers, I have fulfilled my duty to God in all good conscience to this day.”
So I strive always to keep my conscience clear before God and man.
I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying, my conscience confirms it through the Holy Spirit—
Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience.
My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.
But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled.
When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
If an unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who told you and for the sake of conscience. I am referring to the other person’s conscience, not yours. For why is my freedom being judged by another’s conscience?
Lord I need to stop here… for the 1 Corinthians passages now cause me to question something…
Elizabeth, if their conscience interprets what you do as sin, then you don’t want to cause “them” to sin if they would do as you do… or have them think you are sinning.
For if they’d go against their own conscience, even though your conscience is clear, they would be sinning.
Yes Lord, I had just read Romans 14:23 food to idols that says:
But whoever has doubts is condemned if they eat, because their eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.
I’ll go on now that you’ve given us some understanding.
These scriptures contain more of Paul’s words regarding following our consciences:
Now this is our boast: Our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially in our relations with you, with integrity and godly sincerity. We have done so, relying not on worldly wisdom but on God’s grace.
Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.
…holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith.
They must keep hold of the deep truths of the faith with a clear conscience.
I thank God, whom I serve, as my ancestors did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers.
Lord, clearly Paul was very aware of the importance of having a clear conscience.
He repeats it over and over in his teachings to The Church.
And then I came to Hebrews 9:9 and 10:22 and see something quite awesome!
And indeed this is where I’ve been leading you!
You tell us in your word that gifts and sacrifices, as was offered in the Old Testament “was not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper” (Hebrews 9:9)
And then you go on to teach us that our conscience IS CLEANSED by applying the blood of Christ:
How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! 15 For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.
If you have Christ, He is able to cleanse your conscience!
This is our best news ever, for me! To get rid of my guilty nagging “justifying” evil conscience! The peace I have lost those times when I violated my own conscience left my soul feeling weighty, heavy, guilty, and tormenting. I remember it only too well.
And, The Holy Spirit will give you additional guidance too, so that you may serve the Living God!
Oh yes Lord. You have cleansed my own conscience so many times! Then it becomes a “welcome” conscience! I enjoy hearing from it. I am no longer conscience-stricken!
Your blood cleansed me from sin and my peace returned!
Thank you so much for all that you have done for us! You truly have given us all we need to live a life of godliness! (2 Peter 1:3)
I also see from Paul’s verses that our faith and a clear conscience go together.
Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honorably in every way.
…keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. After being made alive, he went and made proclamation to the imprisoned spirits— to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water, and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
Elizabeth, this is enough for now. My Spirit and the Word will speak to readers as you share this chapter on keeping a clear conscience. You have brought the importance of heeding the conscience to light. And light removes the darkness… simply by exposing it.
Help us to trust you (i.e. have faith) in how you actually lead and help each of us through our consciences.
And when we stumble or even disobey our consciences, please cover us with your blood and cleanse our consciences so that we may serve you and follow your ways.
