1 Samuel 15:11-2311It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the Lord all night. 12And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. 13And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord. 14And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? 15And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed. 16Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on. 17And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? 18And 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. 19Wherefore 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? 20And 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. 21But 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. 22And 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. 23For 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. (1 Samuel 15:11‑23)
When the Lord told Samuel that He was grieved with Saul, Samuel was so cast down that he cried and prayed about it all night. Surely this is the heart of a true servant —one who really loves the people of God. Such a servant feels for them as God feels, and seeks their good according to His mind.
Coupled with this love for God’s people, Samuel also had a sense of what was due to the Lord, and he knew he must be faithful. God wants faithful servants. Paul said, “If I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:1010For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:10). It is a serious yet blessed thing to serve the Lord, but too many think more of pleasing men than Him. How much better to be like Haggai who was “the Lord’s messenger in the Lord’s message.” Haggai 1:1313Then spake Haggai the Lord's messenger in the Lord's message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the Lord. (Haggai 1:13). Surely a service of man pleasing must be an empty thing in the eyes of God who knows all our motives.
When Samuel met Saul soon after this, he heard the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the oxen which Saul had brought back with him from the Amalekites. Samuel then asked what all this meant, and Saul said that the people had decided to bring back the best of the sheep and oxen, and that they intended to sacrifice them to the Lord. This seemed like a splendid idea to Saul, but not to the Lord—nor to Samuel who sought the Lord’s glory. Saul had put the people’s desire before obedience to the Lord. He had disobeyed the Lord to please them. What a choice! Yet we fear there are many today who would rather please their friends than the Lord. In order to escape being called narrow and legal, we keep things in our own lives and homes which belong to the flesh—to “Amalek”—and yet we know full well that we are disobeying the Lord in having them. We argue for them against our own consciences. We make excuses, like Saul here, and blame others, as he blamed “the people,” but the Lord knew where to put the blame, as He always does, and He put it right on Saul himself, Samuel told Saul exactly what the Lord thought of what he had done. He did not excuse Saul, or belittle his sin. Saul had been “little in his own eyes,” when God chose him to be king, but now he was acting on his own self-importance. It is a bad thing for any of us when we cease to be “little in our own eyes.” Samuel told Saul that the Lord valued obedience more than sacifrice, and that it would have been much better to have obeyed His Word, than to have brought back those animals to use in sacrifice. He 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. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is a, iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hasi rejected the word of the Lord, He hatl also rejected thee from being king. Surely this message to Saul ought to be a solemn voice to all of us. What an exceedingly serious thing it is to continue in the path of our own stubborn wills, especially when the Word d God has been presented to us in all it clearness and simplicity. If there should be one reading these lines wh is allowing his stubborn will to hinde him from following Christ, may ye seek grace to own it now, and bow ye will to His. The awful sorrows tha followed in poor Saul’s life are a solemn warning as to where a path of self will may lead.
ML 08/29/1954