1 Samuel 15 -- The Heart Of Disobedience

God had one more test for Saul.  He commanded him to completely destroy every Amalekite man, woman, and child, and every animal and possession they owned.  God had been longsuffering with this very evil people and the time had come for judgment.  But when the time came, Saul spared their king and the best animals.  Knowing he’d willfully disobeyed, Saul still greeted Samuel, “May the Lord bless you!  I have obeyed the Lord’s commands.”  About that time, the mooing and bleating began from the captured animals.

 

My commentary looked at it step by step:

 

“First, Saul lied to himself in thinking he could get away with the deception, and then he lied to Samuel, who already knew the truth.  He even tried to lie to God by saying he would use the spared animals for sacrifices!  Saul blamed the soldiers for sparing the spoils, but surely as their commander-in-chief he could have controlled them … With Saul, it was always somebody else’s fault.”

 

Here was the crux of it:  “The prophet went on to reveal that the sins of rebellion and stubbornness (arrogance) controlled Saul’s heart, and in God’s sight, they were as evil as witchcraft and idolatry.  Both sins were evidences of a heart that had REJECTED the Word of God.  To know God’s will and deliberately disobey it is to put ourselves above God and therefore become our own god.  This is the vilest form of idolatry.”

 

I’ve always read that there was no system of offerings to bring about forgiveness of intentional sin in the laws Moses gave – only for accidental sins.  This certainly describes why that would be the case.  Yet today, I don’t imagine that very many accidental sins occur.  Most would be intentional.  I’m so thankful that I have the blood of Christ covering all my sins – past, present, and future – but I also hate the fact that with every intentional sin I commit, I am in effect crucifying Him again.  It grieves me to hear that rebellion and stubbornness are evidences of a heart rejecting the Word of God, because I cherish that Word.  Yet in this life in this flesh in this sin-infected world, we all still sin.  And like Paul, we find ourselves asking, “Why do I do the things I don’t want to do and not do the things I should?”

 

Father, forgive me.  Help me not to reject Your Word.  Help me to know Your will and obey it always.  Thank You for showing me again that rebellion and stubbornness are as evil as witchcraft and idolatry.  Don’t let me make excuses.  Cause me to ache when I do sin, to feel sorry for my rebellion, and to repent – walking away from the path I’ve gone down.  Bring me back into fellowship with You and hold me tightly.  Keep me from straying again.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford