Samuel, Saul, and the Importance of Obedience: Earl Raue
Samuel said to Saul:
“Stop! Let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.”
Saul replied, “Speak!”
Samuel then said: “Though little in your own esteem,
are you not leader of the tribes of Israel?
The LORD anointed you king of Israel and sent you on a mission, saying,
‘Go and put the sinful Amalekites under a ban of destruction.
Fight against them until you have exterminated them.’
Why then have you disobeyed the LORD?
You have pounced on the spoil, thus displeasing the LORD.”
Saul answered Samuel: “I did indeed obey the LORD
and fulfill the mission on which the LORD sent me.
I have brought back Agag, and I have destroyed Amalek under the ban.
But from the spoil the men took sheep and oxen,
the best of what had been banned,
to sacrifice to the LORD their God in Gilgal.”
But Samuel said:
“Does the LORD so delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as in obedience to the command of the LORD?
Obedience is better than sacrifice,
and submission than the fat of rams.
For a sin like divination is rebellion,
and presumption is the crime of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the command of the LORD,
he, too, has rejected you as ruler.” (1 Samuel 15:16-23)
This passage speaks to many things that reflect how we as humans act today. How many times have we done exactly like Saul’s men and taken the best piece for ourselves? But, worse than that, how many times have we taken something when we were told not to touch it at all? I know that I’ve sneaked my fair share of sweets without my parent’s permission, full of joy that I got a cookie. But God is more than just our parent, and what we take from Him is often more than a physical treat.
In the reading, the men take the best sheep and oxen and then sacrifice them to God. What they don’t realize is that those animals that they sacrificed already belonged to God. I can imagine how frustrated the owner of a farm would be if their workers ran up to them and said that they slaughtered all the best animals in advance. The farm owner had plans for those animals, and now we may not know what those plans were because the workers put themselves first.
Though it may not look like a bad thing to give to God all of these good things, the men still disobeyed God in an effort to get brownie points. Just as the passage says, God much prefers our obedience the first time rather than us sucking up to Him after we’ve made a mess of things, which we as humans do all too often. Think about those times that you did something that was for a good purpose, but it required you to go behind someone’s back or do something that you weren’t supposed to. My personal example is actually from my first solo drive.
I had gotten a rickety, old, red truck full of holes. The driver’s seat looked like someone had tried to chew their way out of it, and the rear passenger door couldn’t open. This car was a mess, but it was mine. I wanted to make my dad proud of me because he was always just so stressed when I was driving that he looked like he was going to have a heart attack. Of course, I really should have made a better plan for my first solo drive than going to Walmart while it was raining cats and dogs outside. So I left without telling my dad, drove, and freaked out because I don’t like storms. But I was determined to prove to my dad that I was a good driver worthy of his pride. Of course, if a person is attempting to assure someone about how safe they can be, this is the worst way to do it.
Thankfully, I drove back home safely and with much prayer muttered under my breath as I got through traffic in the drowning Ruston streets. My dad was, as imagined, freaking out, and I had to assure him that nothing happened and explain my not so well-thought- out plan to him. In the end, things went well, but like in the case of Saul’s men, I should have been obedient the first time and not have tried to do my own thing.
So, to avoid a dangerous situation like the one I was in, I (and you who’re reading this) should ask what God wants for us right now. If we know what God is wanting us to do and especially asking us not to do, then it’s always better to just obey Him rather than to do our own thing and endanger ourselves and others. Let’s do as God asks us and be obedient the first time.
Earl is a devoted disciple of Christ and a good friend here at LA Tech Wesley. He is always available for an adventure or a good joke. A junior this school year majoring in English, as well as a member of our Discipleship Team, we look forward to having Earl’s kind and gentle spirit around for years to come.