Saul’s Slippery Slope (Part 8)
There are times when we try to complicate the simple call of following Christ. Rather than faithfully heeding His Word in humble obedience, we are like Naaman, who just couldn't believe that to be healed from his leprosy meant only to exercise trust in God's command and wash in the Jordan River seven times. He sought to question why it was such a small demand and wanted to be the object of some grand spectacle. It is so imperative, as believers in Christ, to remember that it is not about us! Oh, how often we either try to add “how-to-get-spiritual-quick formulas” to our faith, or we attempt to throw in sneaky loopholes to wholehearted commitment, so we can appear to be chest-deep in the fruits of the Spirit, when all the while we're just grazing the surface of the Christian walk.
This is what Saul did in 1 Samuel 15. Rather than stay focused on carrying out God's command to entirely wipe out the Amalekites, he started to come up with his own assumptions of what seemed to be a better way. He must have thought, Surely God didn't want everything destroyed. What about all the gold and silver or the healthy livestock? It would seem a waste to do all that God said! So Saul chose to treat God's command like an option rather than an obligation.
When he heard of Saul's disobedience, the prophet Samuel wept bitterly over him and then quickly traveled to see him. All the while, Saul pridefully set up a monument for himself in Carmel. Upon first seeing Samuel, Saul confidently declared, “Blessed be you to the LORD. I have performed the commandment of the LORD” (verse 13). The prophet was not amused. “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” (verse 14). Immediately, Saul excused himself by stating that it was the people who decided to take the best things for God. Again, Samuel was not amused and told Saul to shut his mouth and realize that he had plainly disobeyed God (verses 16–19).
Saul first tried to subtly deflect the blame, but then he attempted to sugarcoat what was done by emphatically arguing that he did what he was told to do and that much of what was taken was for the benefit of offering it to God. Samuel then revealed an imperative truth by responding, “Has 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 listen than the fat of rams” (verse 22). Far beyond the show of outward sacrifice, God desires the substance of inward obedience. This is why we are called to be a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1–2). We are to lay ourselves on the altar of surrender, entirely committed to the will of God.
Once he heard from Samuel that he would be replaced as king, Saul finally confessed, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice” (verse 24). His royal position was now threatened, so he mustered up a half-hearted apology and again tried to downplay his behavior by claiming that he was intimidated by the people! Oh, how quick we are to vindicate ourselves when it comes to direct disobedience! In our Christian walk, may we never get so caught up in the glamour of sacrifice that we forget the grit of obedience. God proclaimed in Isaiah 66:2, “...And unto this one I look attentively, unto the humble and bruised in spirit, and who is trembling at My word” (YLT). A humble heart and an obedient walk are marks of a true believer.
