Lately I have been reading in the Old Testament and I recently read a story in 1 Samuel 15 that had some connections to our lives.
This chapter is about the Lord rejecting King Saul. In previous chapters Saul had already shown that he preferred to do what he thought was best instead of doing what Samuel the prophet (who was speaking for the Lord) told him to do. In this case it was the beginning of the end for Saul. At the start of the chapter the Lord gives a message to Saul, through Samuel, telling him to go to the Amalekites and destroy everything. He is VERY specific in his command to go destroy all the people and their cattle, sheep, donkeys, and camels. He says to not spare anything.
1 Samuel 15:7-9 tells what really happened: Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, to the east of Egypt. He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.
Did Saul do as he was told? No. Later on Samuel comes to him and asks him what he had done. What is Saul’s response?
When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The LORD bless you! I have carried out the LORD’s instructions.” But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?” Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.” (1 Samuel 15:13-15)
Later he also says,
“But I did obey the LORD,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal. (1 Samuel 15:20,21)
But Samuel replied:
“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22)
Saul kept asserting that he HAD obeyed the Lord, though he didn’t do what the Lord had told him. He had obeyed half of what the Lord said and followed his own desires on the rest. Even though he had good motives (wanting to sacrifice the good cattle to the Lord) that didn’t replace the fact that he should have obeyed.
Sometimes Jeremiah acts in a similar way when we ask him to do something. Instead of just obeying us he does what he wants or what he thinks is best. He is always trying to be helpful, but we would rather have him obey what we say instead of doing what he thinks is helpful. Here’s an example: I always keep a water bottle upstairs so that I can try to drink enough each day. Jeremiah likes to be helpful and get my bottle for me. The problem comes when I say “No, I don’t need it.” Instead of just obeying me and putting it back he continues to try to give it to me. When I take it and put it back he’ll grab it and try to hand it to me again. It is a big struggle that happens with a lot of different things here . If he would listen to us and obey what we say, instead of offering us a “sacrifice” of helpfulness the world would be a better place and we would be saved some grief.
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