“Obeying God’s Voice” 1 Samuel 15:13-23

Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase, “When all else fails, read the instructions.” I’ve come to learn over the years that there is a great deal of validity to the saying.

Other times, though, I come to the conclusion that I know better than the instructions, and so I tend to go my own way. More than not, it doesn’t always work out to my advantage.

In this passage, Saul gets the idea that he knows a better way. The problem is that his better way costs him his kingdom.

Background

Saul was a reluctant king who came to want it more than anything. He didn’t believe he was worthy of the role of king, and tried to hide when it was time to name him the ruler of his people. The Bible describes Saul as being head and shoulders above everyone else. It also describes him as being someone who thought himself completely unworthy to serve as Israel’s first king.

When Samuel informed Saul that God had chosen him to rule, Saul’s response was to say that his clan was the smallest of the clans of Benjamin, and that the tribe of Benjamin was the smallest of the tribes of Israel. Nonetheless, Samuel called all the people together to name a king. The lot continued to narrow the field, until it was clearly revealed that Saul was to be king. They couldn’t find him, though. It turns out he was hiding among the baggage of his people.

This sense of inadequacy seems to have haunted Saul’s reign. He was not afraid to call the people to arms to fight Israel’s battles, but he seemed genuinely afraid of losing the people’s trust in him. Repeatedly, he did things because he didn’t want the people to leave him.

In this particular instance, Samuel had come to Saul to tell him that God had decided it was time to punish the Amalekites for the way they treated the people of Israel as they were approaching the Promised Land. God’s instructions was that Saul and the army were to take no prisoners, and they were to destroy everything that belonged to the Amalekites. Their destruction would be total.

Saul led the army to a great victory, and the army destroyed every man, woman and child of the Amalekites. Except for one. They took the Amalekite king, Agag, prisoner, and the army spared the choicest cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys. This despite God’s explicit instructions that all the animals were to die, and no prisoners were to be taken.

God’s words to Samuel are telling. “I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from Me and has not carried out My instructions” (1 Samuel 15:11). When Samuel tried to find Saul, he was told that Saul had traveled to Carmel, and there he had built a monument in his own honor. Once Samuel catches up with Saul, we have the encounter for today’s passage.

Central Truth: The truly faithful believer hears and obeys God’s voice.

Saul’s problem (13-14)

Have you ever been in a great mood, riding high, only to be brought down to a thud with someone’s pointing out a huge mistake? If you have, then you have an idea what Saul was about to feel.

As Saul sees Samuel approach, Saul greets him with words of his resounding victory. “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions” (v. 13). I read these words, and wonder if Saul was over-compensating for what he knew was a failure to follow God’s instructions to the letter.

It’s also possible that Saul thought he had obeyed God’s command in that he had done virtually all God had commanded. There were a few loose ends, yes, but he had completed 95% of the task, and that was cause for celebration.

Except it wasn’t. Samuel’s answer to Saul is, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle I hear?” (v. 14). In other words, Samuel calls Saul out on the assertion he has obeyed God’s will.

Let’s stop here and ask a very real question: Isn’t 95% pretty good? If a person did 95% of what you wanted them to do, wouldn’t you be happy? It depends on what was required, I guess. If I hire someone to mow my lawn, and they mow all but two swaths of the grass, am I really pleased with their work? If I hire someone to paint my house, would I be satisfied with most of the walls being painted, except the trim? Really, if we think about it, almost really isn’t what we want.

God is the same way. When God speaks to us, giving us instruction, He expects us to carry it out the way He wants. There was a time when Moses was particularly vexed with the people. I guess one too many times they were complaining about the lack of water. God informed Moses to speak to a rock and water would gush out. Moses, though, went back to the people, and said, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of a rock?” (Numbers 20:10). With that, Moses used the staff he had taken from Aaron and struck the rock twice. God’s instructions was for Moses to speak to the rock; Moses struck it. The water gushed forth, and the thirst was satisfied.

But God was not. God told Moses, “Because you did not trust in Me enough to honor Me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them” (Numbers 20:12).

At first glance, the punishment seems overly harsh. But notice again how God viewed Moses’ disobedience. It wasn’t a question of Moses becoming a little overly dramatic; it was a question of honoring God and trusting Him. By doing what he did, Moses demonstrated to the Israelites that Moses thought he knew better than God.

And so we come back to Saul. Was Saul really that far off from what God wanted? Saul didn’t seem to think so.

Saul’s excuse (15-21)

How do we respond to someone who wants to be a downer on our parade? The person who wants to point out the flaw in our plan. I remember when I bought my wedding band. Kim and I were engaged, getting married shortly, and I found a ring we were both pleased with. I proudly purchased the ring, and carried it over to a show a friend of mine who worked in the same mall where I bought the ring.

The ring was gold with two thin black lines, and etchings between the lines and the edges of the ring. I thought it was beautiful and was proud of it. I showed it to my friend and one of her co-workers. My friend said it was a pretty ring. Her co-worker agreed it was pretty, but then she said, “Those etching will wear off over time.” She was probably right, and she was being honest with me. But sometimes we don’t have to tell people everything we know, even if it’s true. Sometimes we need to let a person enjoy the moment.

Saul was enjoying the moment, but Samuel had brought a big cloud to rain on Saul’s parade. So, like we often do, Saul tried to explain away his minor error. He said the soldiers only spared the best of the sheep and cattle to bring an offering to God for the great victory. He then added, “But we totally destroyed the rest” (v.15).

Samuel stopped Saul in the middle of his excuse. He then told Saul what God had told Samuel the previous night. God’s words were a reminder of all that God had done for Saul, and of what was expected of him in this matter. Samuel’s words end with, “Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?” (v. 19).

Saul realized he was in trouble, but he still didn’t fully understand why. He again tried to justify his actions. He insists that he was completely obedient. He went on the mission; he destroyed the Amalekites. Granted, he did bring back Agag, and that the soldiers brought the sheep and cattle, but it was “the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal” (v. 21).

To Saul’s point, when God orders the complete destruction of livestock, the livestock are said to be devoted to God. Being devoted to God meant that no one else was to take possession. Saul’s thought was that God would be pleased with the sacrifice.

What is more telling is how he describes God. Did you notice? He says the animals were to be sacrificed to the Lord your God, not the Lord our God or the Lord my God. I’m not sure why Saul said it that way. It’s possible he’s a little peeved with God at this point. It’s possible he meant nothing by it. But I think that this little slip was a telling one. I think it revealed the heart of the king, and confirmed God’s statement that Saul had turned away from God.

God’s expectations (22-23)

Samuel had heard the excuse, and now he cut to the heart of the matter. Saul was arguing that he had the best of intentions in what he had done. Okay, maybe it wasn’t the letter of the law, but it was with a good heart and sincere belief, at least as far as his explanation went. Samuel’s words set the matter in perspective, though.

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams” (v. 22). God doesn’t want us to wing it when it comes to our relationship with Him. He doesn’t want us to make it up as we go; He wants us to follow Him faithfully and completely. There can be no second-best. God told His people, “You will have no other gods before Me,” and He meant it.

If God is to be Lord of our lives, then He must be pre-eminent in our lives as well. Jesus tells us, “If you want to follow Me but you don’t hate your father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters—even your own life—you cannot be My disciples” (Luke 14:26). The same Jesus told us we need to love our brothers as ourselves, so is there a contradiction? No, of course not. Jesus is using a comparison in the Luke passage. What He’s saying is if our devotion to Him is not so complete that it would equate to hatred of anything and everyone else, we cannot be true disciples. Our devotion and our faith must be so complete that nothing will distract from it.

And that’s what God is telling Saul. There can be no “I’ll be committed to Christ on these days, but Friday night is all to myself.” Anything short of complete devotion is rebellion, as we see in the final verse in our passage. “For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance is like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king” (1 Samuel 15:23). Saul’s arrogance is seen in that he presumed to think he knew more than God, that he knew what God really meant. In preserving the life of Agar and the best of the sheep and cattle, even if it was for the reason Saul gave, was presumptive on his part.

And it wasn’t as if Saul wasn’t clear on what God had said. Saul didn’t wake up one morning and think to himself, “I believe the Lord is leading me to destroy the Amalekites and all their belongings.” He had a clear instruction from God through Samuel. If there was any uncertainty, all Saul had to do was to confirm the instructions with Samuel. But his arrogance—or his cowardice in front of his own army—led him to disregard God’s voice and pursue his own.

The result was catastrophic for Saul. From that moment on, his reign was numbered, and a new king would be anointed within days of this event.

Conclusion

I am one of the first to admit that my listening skills are always the best. If I’m distracted or reluctant to do what I’m being instructed to do, I may not fully hear what’s being said. But like most people, if I know something is important, and I know that the person who is instructing me is more knowledgeable than am I, I will try to listen and do what’s told me.

When it comes to God, the idea of if all else fails, read the instructions is the wrong way of looking at things. Unfortunately, I don’t think it’s really all that unusual for most of us.

As we begin the new year, why not commit to what really pleases God—trusting and obeying Him?