I Samuel 13-20: Are You Really Obeying God?

1 Samuel 15:13   And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.

     There is a recurring theme in Scripture of obedience to God.  We understand that obedience is not the means of salvation but the Bible teaches without a shadow of doubt it is the result of salvation.  Many would deny the need of obedience today and relegate the subject to some supposed bygone era of the Old Testament Age.  God, knowing this, by the mouth of the Lord made obedience a current matter to the cross with the words, "Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the thing which I say?"  in Luke 6:46.  For the hyperdispensationalists who have locked the Gospel narratives in the past, James brings the theme current with the stinging words, "Faith without works is dead".  So are we really obeying God?

     Saul claims in verse thirteen to have performed the commandment of God and in verse twenty he says he has obeyed the voice of the Lord.  So what did God tell him to do?  Verse three contains God's clear instructions for Saul to kill all of the Amalekites and their animals as well.  Let's take a look and Saul's obedience in his own words.

1 Samuel 15:20-21   And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.  21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.

     In the same breath that Saul claims to be obeying God he also reveals the real nature of his obedience.  He killed all the Amalekites except the king because it was customary for victorious kings to make slaves of the conquered kings as trophies of war.   The people took the animals they thought were too good to kill to give as an offering to God in violation of His explicit commands.

    He fell into a trap that is very easy for us to fall into as well.  He mistook cultural norms and what they thought best for obedience to God.  We too can know what God said but make the same kind of decisions Saul made by replacing God's commands with what we think is best.  How about we just take God at His word?  He said what He meant and meant what He said so all we have to do is do it!

1 Samuel 15:22   And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

Daily Devotional:  Isaiah 53  Jesus Prophesied