Jordan Leahy's Blog
I Samuel 15. / May 9, 10:58 AM
On Wednesday I read through I Samuel 15. It’s the story of King Saul’s last stand…
God instructs Saul to go and wipe out the Amalekites. He tells them to spare no one, not even children, even down to the livestock (vs 3). Sounds simple enough, right?
Wrong. Saul and his crew go and tear them apart. But they spare the king and leave the good stuff to sacrifice it to God. Samuel catches wind of this (from God, no birds chirping in his ear) and goes to confront Saul. When he gets there, Saul is really excited to see him and’s like “Sammy! What’s going on!? Check out how great a job me and my crew did!” (vs 4-13).
Samuel sighs and, hinting that Saul messed up, asks what the deal is with the sheep that are bleating in his ears. Saul fails to get it and is like “Dude, it’s the cattle that we kept to sacrifice to God. I thought of it myself. Good job, eh?” (vs 14-21). Samuel sighs again and says; “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. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king” (vs 22-23). Samuel tells Saul that his run as King is over and finishes what Saul failed to finish by putting the Amalekite king to death (vs 24-33).
I like how this passage points to trusting God. Saul had some pretty basic instructions. Had he done what God told him he would have been set. When he started getting creative with God’s plans it fell apart. We can’t get ahead of ourselves. We need to stick with what we know and where we are, not think about where we could be.
I tend to freak out about what’s ahead of me. Since I can’t see what’s coming, I’ll try to take things into my own hands and then I get bent out of shape when I screw things up. Verse 22 says “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of a ram.” Focus on where you are and where God has you. Soak up the love He’s giving you right now, not what you want it to look like. His love is perfect for us right where we are. He knows what we need and has it under control.
Peace.
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