Fighting the Flesh #5: Selective Obedience
“And Samuel said, ‘What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?’"—1 Samuel 15:14
Imagine zooming down the expressway when you see a police car’s red and blue lights in your rearview mirror. You quickly slow down, pull over to the side of the road, as does he. He gets out of his car and you brace yourself for the inevitable and unwelcome conversation as he quickly marches to your car. You roll down your window and say, “Hello Officer. What seems to be the problem?” He responds, “Sir, do you know how fast you were going?” You reply, “Yes, sir. I was going 100 mph.” He continues, “Sir, the speed limit is 55 mph.” You reply, “Yes, I know, but I had my seatbelt on.” Surprised he says, “Yes, that’s good, but you were going 100 mph!” You assure him, “I know, but I did have my seat belt on.” Incredulously he replies, “Yes, but what does that have to do with your speeding?!” You calmly and smugly reply, “Everything! I may have been speeding, but at least I was safe!”
Such an interaction is nothing short of ridiculous. Anyone who drives knows that we aren’t allowed to obey some laws while blatantly disregarding others, yet that’s exactly what we do in reference to God. God commands us to obey, but we think that we know better and disregard His law to do what we think is best. We must make sure that we do all of God commands and not disregard one law in favor of another.
Consider the example of King Saul. God commanded Saul to destroy the Amalekites because of their treatment of the Israelites after escaping slavery in Egypt. God commanded him to destroy, “…all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey” (1 Samuel 15:3). He was to destroy everything and everyone, no exceptions. This may seem harsh to the modern reader, but we cannot see the heart as God does (1 Samuel 16:7). They were guilty and Saul and the Israelites were the means to carry out God’s just sentence.
Saul gathered an army and quickly defeated the Amalekites. But rather than fulfill God’s command, he only did a portion of it. We read that,
“…he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction” (v. 8-9).Saul chose to do what he felt best rather that what God had commanded. He blatantly disregarded God’s command to devote everything to destruction. He kept alive what he deemed to be good, but destroyed what was not. He kept Agag, king of the Amalekites alive, even though God had decreed him worthy of death.
Such “selective obedience” is really disobedience. No sooner had the battle been won and the best sheep and oxen had been spared, the Word of the Lord comes to Samuel, “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not performed My commandments” (v. 10). Angry, Samuel cried out to the LORD all night. He set off early the next morning to see Saul. Upon arriving, Saul said to Samuel, “Blessed be you to the LORD. I have performed the commandment of the LORD" (v. 13), to which Samuel responds, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?" (v. 14). Saul responded, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the LORD your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction” (v. 15).
Saul had abandoned one command in favor of what he felt was honoring to God. But before he could continue in his disobedience Samuel yelled, “Stop! I will tell you what the LORD said to me this night" (v. 16). He continued,
“Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. And the LORD sent you on a mission and said, 'Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.' Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?" (v. 17-19).Saul rationalized his response,
“I have obeyed the voice of the LORD. I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal" (v. 20-21).Samuel’s response gets to the heart of the matter,
“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.
For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
He has also rejected you from being king” (v. 22-23).
In what way are we selectively obeying God’s commands? In what way are we placing our understanding above God’s? In our home? Work? School? Relationships? I once knew a Christian girl who dated a young man who was not a believer as a means of reaching him with the Gospel, but she was guilty of selective obedience just like Saul. She placed her understanding of evangelism above God’s command to not be equally yoked with unbelievers (cf. 2 Corinthians 6:14). Such understanding is representative of the proverb that says,“There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death”—Proverbs 14:12.
May we seek to obey God above everything because it is through our walk on the path of obedience that we come to experience the joy of Christ. Amen.
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