Obedience Is Better Than Sacrifice!

Friday, Aug. 10th> 1 Samuel chapter 15

How does Saul exemplify the life of a believer who has MYOPIA (near-sightedness), and bends God's Word to suit his/her own purpose?  Several things jump out at me in this passage.  First of all, Saul was ANOINTED king.  The anointing comes with an assignment: to give a person supernatural strength and courage to accomplish what he or she couldn't do on human strength alone.  So, his first task was to destroy the Amalekites, a group of people who oppressed Israel when they needed help after leaving Egypt.  God wanted Saul to use his position as king, with Samuel's priestly covering, to take them out, in order to teach other nations that no-one messes with God's chosen ones.

Secondly, Saul had the POWER to choose whether to obey God or not.  And this is where the near- sighted ness comes in.  God's specific words to Saul were:

"Now go and attack Amalek, and UTTERLY destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.” (1 Samuel 15:3 NKJV) Is that clear enough?  Seems pretty cut-and-dried to me.  And yet,  in the middle of the task, Saul SAW only HIS reasoning and that of the people whose advice he received.  "Why not keep the king alive?  We could let him hang around and watch all the destruction, just the way he and his people did to us.  And why not hold on to the best animals?  It would be such a waste to destroy them, when we could sacrifice them to the Lord rather than our own." 

Thirdly, Saul fell into the TRAP of thinking that somehow he knew better than God how to execute God's plan.  And yet the Bible tells us not to lean on our own understanding, but rather trust in the Lord with ALL our hearts.  Our minds, when not renewed, reflect only our selfish desires which are contrary to God's will for our lives.  Our minds, in their carnal state, can only carry out the enemy's will, which leads to death and destruction for us.  And God knows this, which is why He tells us to STICK TO HIS WORD rather than our own thoughts and opinions.

Finally, the same power extended to Saul is being given to us today.  We have the anointing of BOTH kings and priests, a position we inherited through Jesus' death and resurrection.  What will we do with that double- portion anointing?  Will we UTTERLY DESTROY every enemy that stands in the way of our total freedom in Christ?  Anger, fear, rejection, depression, and the like?  Or will we spare some because we "THINK" they may still be useful in the future?  We must be careful to obey ALL the commandments -- not in our power, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.  It pleases God, and obedience is far better than sacrifice.