18) And
the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners
the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be
consumed.
19) Wherefore
then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil,
and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?
20) 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.
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.
23) For
rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and
idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also
rejected thee from being king.
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ow many times has this been our excuse for not doing as God say? Even knowing His requirements, too many try to justify not doing things exactly as He says.
We
are a people who excuse ourselves and others, so we are lulled into falsely
believing that God, too, accepts excuses. As long as this is what we think, we
will never change into a people of integrity. Once we accept the truth that God
expects and we can deliver excellence, we can work on changing ourselves so that
we might be acceptable to Him.
A
problem with, and excuse for, many is that they feel they are "right"
(doing right), yet things are not working. We can even know, through experience
that certain things are not profitable, "but, I have a reason" for doing
what I do as an individual. Why shouldn't what
satisfies me, also satisfy the Lord, right?
We
need to accept the revelation that excuses satisfy only the one who makes them.
The excuse of a boss who cannot pay his employees will satisfy him, but neither the employees, their landlords, nor their creditors.
In
our scriptures today, Samuel was given a direction to give to Saul, which he
did. What followed mimics the mindset we often have that when we do not want to
do something, we will try to talk God into our point-of-view. This is always
wasted effort, for God is responsible for answering to His word, only.
When
questioned, Saul responded that he had obeyed God, even though he knew that he
was to have annihilated the Amalekites and he did
not. No doubt accidentally, he "exposes" himself when he reports that
he had captured King Agag. This, in itself, showed
that he had not done as he was instructed. He also showed that he understood
the command, for he knew that the people had taken what should have been
utterly destroyed.
So,
of course, what did Saul do but try to convince God that the cattle and oxen
were taken for His benefit, to be sacrificed to Him. Cutting right through to
the real issue, Samuel then questions Saul as to which the Lord prefers—obedience
to Him and His commands, or sacrifice?
The
point of this exchange is to get us to understand that we must do as God says
and excuses are not adequate and will be neither tolerated nor accepted. We
often wonder why some of our brothers and sisters seem to excel over us and
refuse to recognize, He sees in them what He often misses in us—a willingness
to do as He says. We need to be a little less quick to look for excuses not to
do things. We need, to ask the Lord to help us develop
willing minds.
Without
actually verbalizing it, our actions proclaim that "yes," I may
be lacking in commitment to God, "but," I have a reason." Presenting
excuses is a mark of childhood, We have come too
far and have too far to go to indulge in childhood activities. All of the
people of God are being called to accept the responsibility of salvation and
make up our minds to what we can be for the Lord.