Shallowness or Substance?
How often do we choose to focus on appearing spiritually devoted in the eyes of others rather than simply heeding God's Word in humble obedience? So many believers are trying to paint a picture of devotion without having to actually deny themselves and carry their cross (Mark 8:34). This is similar to what Saul did in 1 Samuel 15. Instead of carrying out God’s command to completely destroy the Amalekites, he relied on his own assumptions of what he deemed better. He must have thought, Surely God didn’t mean for everything to be destroyed. What about the gold and silver, or the healthy livestock? It would be wasteful to do exactly as God said! So Saul treated God’s command as an option rather than an obligation.
When the prophet Samuel learned of Saul’s disobedience, he wept bitterly and went to confront him. Meanwhile, Saul pridefully erected a monument to himself in Carmel. He believed he had found a way to have his cake and eat it too. When he first saw Samuel, he confidently declared, “Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord” (v. 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?” (v. 14) Immediately, Saul deflected the blame, claiming the people had kept the best things to sacrifice to God. Again, Samuel was not moved. He told Saul to be quiet and recognize his plain disobedience (vv. 16–19).
First, Saul tried to subtly shift the blame, then he attempted to sugarcoat his actions by insisting he had obeyed and that the plunder was taken for God’s offering. Samuel responded with an essential truth: “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” (v. 22). Beyond outward religious displays, God desires the substance of inward obedience. This is why we are called to be living sacrifices (Romans 12:1–2). We are to lay ourselves on the altar of surrender, fully committed to God’s will.
When Samuel told Saul that the kingdom would be torn from him, 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” (v. 24). With his throne threatened, he mustered a half-hearted apology and again downplayed his behavior by blaming the people. If at first you don’t succeed, blame others. How quickly we often justify our direct disobedience! In our Christian walk, may we never become so enamored with the glamour of sacrifice that we forget the grit of obedience. God declares in Isaiah 66:2, “…But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.” A humble heart and an obedient walk are marks of a true believer.
