Tuesday, June 19,
2018
Then the Lord said to Samuel, “I am sorry that I ever made
Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me and has refused to obey my command.”
Samuel was so deeply moved when he
heard this that he cried out to the Lord all night. Early the next morning Samuel went to find
Saul. Someone told him, “Saul went to
the town of Carmel to set up a monument to himself; then he went on to Gilgal.” When Samuel finally found him, Saul greeted
him cheerfully. “May the Lord bless
you,” he said. “I have carried out the Lord’s command!” “Then what is all the bleating of sheep and
goats and the lowing of cattle I hear?” Samuel demanded. “It’s true that the army spared the best of
the sheep, goats, and cattle,” Saul admitted. “But they are going to sacrifice them to the Lord
your God. We have destroyed everything
else.” Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! Listen to what the Lord told me last night!” “What did he tell you?” Saul asked. And Samuel told him, “Although you may think
little of yourself, are you not the leader of the tribes of Israel? The Lord has anointed you king of Israel. And the Lord sent you on a
mission and told you, ‘Go and completely destroy the sinners, the Amalekites,
until they are all dead.’ Why
haven’t you obeyed the Lord? Why did you
rush for the plunder and do what was evil in the Lord’s sight?” “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul insisted. “I carried out the mission he gave me. I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed
everyone else. Then
my troops brought in the best of the sheep, goats, cattle, and plunder to
sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your
obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and
submission is better than offering the fat of rams. Rebellion
is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of
the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”
1 Samuel
15:10-23(NLT)
I’m not sure which is a more
laughable (albeit pitiful) thought, a five-year-old raising his mighty arms as
a defiant display of his awesome strength towards the ocean, or a king
imagining his way of doing things is better than Jehovah, the One who made him
king. Yet that is what we have in
Scripture, shy Saul turned into arrogant King Saul.
No matter how much Saul
attempted to rationalize his actions to Samuel, they echo rather hollow against
the Lord’s words: “I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me
and has refused to obey my command.”
For anyone who has ever
served in a position of leadership, loyalty from (and to) those who serve with
you is such a key issue it is impossible to undervalue its importance. Anything less than action with complete
integrity and fidelity is a betrayal of trust given to one in authority; there
is no wiggle room on that.
In reading this passage I
could not keep the thought at bay concerning what has been said so often about
our current U.S. President, and how he values the loyalty of those who are
supposed to serve under his authority.
Indeed, the stories are legion of the President’s wrath when the loyalty
of his subordinates falters or is suspect.
And, since the Oval Office is the closest thing we Americans have to a
throne room, the comparison isn’t strained here; if you’re going to serve a
king, you’d better make certain you can be loyal…or you won’t last a day in
that administration.
But there is a companion
thought that jumps into this mélange – the Oval Office is not the highest
authority in this land. Neither is the
Congress, nor the people, or any grass-roots movement of the people. In fact, nowhere in this world, or universe
is there any authority higher than the One who sets up rulers…and also takes
them down.
He controls
the course of world events; he removes kings and sets up other kings. Daniel 2:21(NLT)
And so, it would behoove any
leader to understand the temporary nature of whatever “power” he or she now
holds; it won’t be long – one way or another – before time, circumstances, or death
puts that power in someone else’s hands.
For You Today
So, let’s answer the prophet’s probing,
stinging question – what is better, ritually sacrificing all sorts of stuff to
appease an angry god…or obedience to a loving God?
Go to VIDEO
[1] Title Image: Courtesy of Pixabay.com
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