1 Samuel 13:10-12

(10) And it came to pass, that as soon as he had made an end of offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came; and Saul went out to meet him, that he might salute him. (11) And Samuel said, What hast thou done? And Saul said, Because I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that thou camest not within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered themselves together at Michmash; (12) Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the LORD: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.

Observe, under what specious pretences Saul covered the motives of his conduct; like the first sinners in the garden of Eden: self-justification, even to the last, we find in their apology. Genesis 3:10. But Reader! do not in the conduct of Saul overlook the picture it affords of the human heart. How doth every man attempt to justify himself in his actions under the false covering of some supposed good, until the film of self-deception is taken from off his eyes by the Holy Ghost; and never until he is convinced of sin doth he seek justification in the righteousness of Christ.