I just got back from the Jacksonville tournament, and it was a blast to see many students from the camps I did last summer. There were some from Georgia, and Florida, including one from a camp I did over four years ago in Naples. It was great to see old friends and meet some new ones. And it was exciting to see a couple teams I coach get first in Parli and first in Policy. These teams have taken what I taught them and took it to another level, which is what I want them to do. Take the concepts and make it their own. Put their own spin on it, and develop their unique approach. This works great with Speech and Debate, but not so much with God’s commands. And that brings me to what I have been reading in the Bible.
I completed 1 Samuel on Sunday with the death of Saul and Jonathan on Mt. Gilboa. At the end of Judges, and the beginning of 1 Samuel, the people were wanting a king to rule over them, and they wanted one NOW! God has implied that he would give them a king, but it would be in His time and from the tribe of Judah. So when the people demanded a king to be like everyone else, God gave them one like everyone else. Saul, son of Kish, of the Tribe of Benjamin. I see what God is doing here. He gave them a king that looked kingly from the outside, but God looks at the heart. But since Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin, he was doomed from the start, for he was not God’s king from Judah.
It didn’t take long for Saul to mess up, offering a sacrifice that Samuel was to offer, and then not following through on wiping out the Amalekites, including their king Agag, and all the livestock. We get the verse that God desires obedience rather than sacrifice from here. And, we see the beginnings of an issue that will haunt the Israelites a few centuries later where in Esther, Haman, the Agagite sought to wipe them all out on a single day.
Saul tried to make excuses and make himself look good in the eyes of Samuel and God, but his heart was for himself. God left him and he started to get paranoid, angry, homocidal, depressed, etc. And he infected those around him with the same ideations. And though David, God’s first king, did not seek Saul’s harm, but only his good, Saul continually sought to kill David. It did not end well for Saul, and his son Jonathan was killed in the process as well.
What can we learn from this? To quote the passage directly (1 Samuel 15:22),
And Samuel said, “Has 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 listen than the fat of rams.
The sacrifices were really for the people. To actually see the results of their disobedience. Something valuable had to be offered. Sin has consequences. But if you were just going through the motions and there was no true heart change, what good are the sacrifices? It isn’t as though God somehow needed them. God has no needs as He is self-existent and self-sufficient. God desires our obedience for OUR sake. His Word is truth, and light. And we need to walk in truth and light. God is seeking our highest and best which is ALWAYS obedience to Him. When we turn to the left or to the right, we stray from the path He has set before us and we suffer the consequences. And such was the fate of Saul.
And it is much more than knowing Scripture. There are many who have read the Bible and can quote chapter and verse all day long, but their hearts are far from the Lord. King Saul knew God’s Word, but his heart was more toward himself, which is why God rejected him. And while David made many mistakes, his heart wanted to ultimately please God, which is why his repentance was heard. Saul made excuses, David did not.
And THIS is what we can learn. We will all mess up. And when we do, confess your sin to God with NO excuses. For God is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
Amen
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