I really love this passage. I don't love it because it's heartwarming, or encouraging, or gives you that fuzzy feeling in your heart after reading about one of Jesus' miracles; i love it because it's like a wakeup call.
In this passage, God gives Saul the chance to be King but takes it away because Saul disobeys God's commands. God tells David that Saul is to kill all the Amalekites, all their men, women, children, cattle, EVERYTHING. It's a pretty direct order, leave none alive. But Saul, being the arrogant man he is, saves the best cattle and sheep to offer as sacrifice to God, and not to mention raising a monument in his own name. At first read, that doesn't seem like anything bad that's enough to take away his crown (except for creating that monument for his glory), but that's exactly what God does. Saul failed to obey God's instructions, and God was angry and therefore took Saul's crown back. It's not like Saul even had bad intentions.. he wanted to offer the animals as a sacrifice to the Lord!
So what's the lesson.
Saul kept the cattle despite God's telling him not to, because he saw no harm. He thought God would actually be pleased with him. It's not that God was upset with Saul for the sacrifices, but that Saul assumed God would be more pleased with the sacrificial offerings than Saul obeying God's commands.
This reflects so many aspects in my life. I can't pick and choose when and where i've done this, but i have and i know that God knows. God gives us instructions on how to live according to His will, and yet we like to create loopholes in the scripture and do some things our own ways. It's like, "Okay, I'll do THIS but then i'll also this THAT my way.".. or, "Well, even though God said to do this, since i did that, it'll be okay.."
We just make assumptions that God would be pleased as long as we have the right intentions, when in fact those intentions are not in accordance with God's will. We are human and therefore limited in our thinking about how God would want us to live. It's just not possible to even wrap our minds around how God thinks/operates. That's because He's God, and we're sinners. Like Saul, I try and try to obey God's words, but then i also like to do a little bit my way. Like try to see a way around his instructions. We are supposed to be Christians! You know,... "little Christs"? We are to live like how Jesus lived, who completely and tirelessly followed and obeyed God's commands. No if's, and's, or but's. It's God's way or the high way.
I just pray that I'd be able to think about this passage whenever i start hearing MY words more than GOD'S words.
In this passage, God gives Saul the chance to be King but takes it away because Saul disobeys God's commands. God tells David that Saul is to kill all the Amalekites, all their men, women, children, cattle, EVERYTHING. It's a pretty direct order, leave none alive. But Saul, being the arrogant man he is, saves the best cattle and sheep to offer as sacrifice to God, and not to mention raising a monument in his own name. At first read, that doesn't seem like anything bad that's enough to take away his crown (except for creating that monument for his glory), but that's exactly what God does. Saul failed to obey God's instructions, and God was angry and therefore took Saul's crown back. It's not like Saul even had bad intentions.. he wanted to offer the animals as a sacrifice to the Lord!
So what's the lesson.
Saul kept the cattle despite God's telling him not to, because he saw no harm. He thought God would actually be pleased with him. It's not that God was upset with Saul for the sacrifices, but that Saul assumed God would be more pleased with the sacrificial offerings than Saul obeying God's commands.
This reflects so many aspects in my life. I can't pick and choose when and where i've done this, but i have and i know that God knows. God gives us instructions on how to live according to His will, and yet we like to create loopholes in the scripture and do some things our own ways. It's like, "Okay, I'll do THIS but then i'll also this THAT my way.".. or, "Well, even though God said to do this, since i did that, it'll be okay.."
We just make assumptions that God would be pleased as long as we have the right intentions, when in fact those intentions are not in accordance with God's will. We are human and therefore limited in our thinking about how God would want us to live. It's just not possible to even wrap our minds around how God thinks/operates. That's because He's God, and we're sinners. Like Saul, I try and try to obey God's words, but then i also like to do a little bit my way. Like try to see a way around his instructions. We are supposed to be Christians! You know,... "little Christs"? We are to live like how Jesus lived, who completely and tirelessly followed and obeyed God's commands. No if's, and's, or but's. It's God's way or the high way.
I just pray that I'd be able to think about this passage whenever i start hearing MY words more than GOD'S words.
My favorite Bible story! Yeeeeeeee c:
ReplyDelete"Saul assumed God would be more pleased with the sacrificial offerings than Saul obeying God's commands."
ReplyDeleteA great example of how our human nature takes over. The instructions are easy and direct, but we rely on our own instincts instead. Good wakeup call or reminder to us all.