April 15, 2014 - Tuesday

Start Time: 6:17 A.M.

End Time: 6:44 A.M.

Title: The Lord Rejects Saul as King

Scripture: 1 Samuel 15:1 – 34

God’s Message / God’s Promise / God’s Commands:

→ Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy^[a] all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’” So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim—two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand from Judah. Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. Then he said to the Kenites, “Go away, leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites. Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border 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^[b]and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.  Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.

NOTES:

Ø God is not pleased with disobedient leaders or half-hearted obedience!  God has specific and clear instructions for Saul yet Saul has his own preference.  Saul is a typical example of every man today who only considers God’s instructions as an opinion and not the ultimate solution.  When God becomes our God and King, He is given the authority to run our lives and drive it to the path directly to the fulfillment of His will but many times we say, “I surrender” yet our hearts only mean it halfway.  We want to obey when it suits us and even when the instructions is for our benefits, just like the instructions given to Saul, still he decided to follow his own decision – the same with so many people today.  We know what God’s stand on many things yet we still do what is not right to please ourselves or our own ego.  We still want to take full control of our lives when our lives no longer belong to us when we surrender to God.  God is not pleased with half-hearted obedience, and do not wait until He regrets choosing us to carry His instructions for it won’t be good.

→Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.” 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.” “Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” “Tell me,” Saul replied. Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel.  And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?”  “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.”

NOTES:

Ø God expects us to obey His every instruction – neglecting a few of it means disobeying His word!  No matter how good or right our hearts are for not doing what God says, it does not justify it.  The end does not justify the means in this aspect or should I say, does not justify the disobedient.  We are to follow the command of the word and not add to it or deduct something from it.  We are to follow it word for word for God does not command just for the heck of commanding, God has a purpose and plan for everything.  If we divert from His instructions, we are ruining His plans.  We are to help fulfill that plan not the other way around.  If we are doing the opposite, then we are no better than God’s enemies so we belong to the enemy’s camp and not God’s!

→But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying 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.” Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them. Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.” But Samuel said to him, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!” As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you. He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.” Saul replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.” So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord. Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.”Agag came to him in chains.^[c] And he thought, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so will your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal. Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul.  Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lord regrettedthat he had made Saul king over Israel.

NOTES:

Ø God delights in obedience rather than gifts or sacrifices!  God wants our obedience more than our gifts.  Many times we tend to do what we want and when we sin, we ask forgiveness and give gifts to compensate for the mistake we made but God is not like us who finds pleasure in gifts.  He has everything, He owns everything!  He doesn’t need whatever we have or we give.  He is please more in our obedience to follow Him.  Our greatest gift is to obey for it is the only thing we can give that God will be pleased to have.  Let’s not treat God like human being, we cannot justify our sins by just giving gifts or service to His church or obey later.  God is God, let’s treat Him the respect, honor, and obedience He deserves!

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, awesome and loving God; marvelous nad gracious Father; the King of kings and Lord of lords!  Lord, You deserve Your people’s obedience and I am sorry Lord if at times, I choose to disobey and then obey later…or maybe give gifts like my service, my time or effort to You after to compensate for what I did.  Please forgive me Lord.  Today, I learned that You expect me to obey whole heartedly and every word You say because You deserve to be obeyed.  You delight in my obedience and You don’t find more pleasure in our gifts rather than our obedience.  Lord, give me a heart to obey fully and completely.  I want to do as You instructed, word for word, but Lord I am human and I have many shortcomings.  Many times I fail, knowingly and unknowingly.  Lord I need You help to completely obey You.  Give me the strength and will to do so and continue to pour out Your love, favor and grace upon me daily.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen!