Intimidated by family devotions because of the verses that stump you?

As we were reading through 1 Samuel we came across a verse where God literally instructs someone to lie.

I recently read with my boys 1 Samuel Chapter 16.  The Prophet Samuel, who was to anoint David as the next king of Israel, asked God what he should say if someone asked him why he was in Bethlehem.  Now, if the current king found out what was really going on, who knows what might have happened next! 

So, God told Samuel to take heifer and to tell anyone who asked, that he was in Bethlehem to offer a sacrifice. Technically it was the truth but the answer was meant to deceive.  So, I reminded my boys that when they do this, use a half-truth in order to deceive their parents, we still call it a lie. Of course, now I have to explain why God instructed someone to be less than truthful with his answer. What would you say to this? 

When you encounter difficult passages in your family devotions, what do you do? 

My encouragement is that you to leave the difficulty hanging for a while.  For instance, If you have a good answer don't give it right away.  Instead let the tension provide an opportunity for your kids to think and pray about the right answer for a day or a week. On the other hand, if you don't have a good answer, which is always intimidating for me as well, we have 3 choices:
1) I can say "oh boy, look at the time. I'd love to give you an answer but I have a heifer to sacrifice." - Give them a lie
2) I can give them my best guess - Possibly a half truth
3) I can admit I'm not sure and then go and research the answer together with my kids - learn the truth together

Of course option 3 is a very healthy and Scripture-honoring decision that will affirm your commitment to the Bible as the source of truth in front of your kids while showing them that you're humble enough to admit that you don't pretend to know everything.

Now, I know some of you may be distracted from the point of my article because of the ethical tension I just raised from 1 Samuel 16.  If you're wondering why God would suborn lying...well, let's talk about that next week ;)