Be Real - By Being Obedient!

Obedience, listening to instructions and following them, is something all of us are very familiar with. We are asked to obey in various contexts of life. We are called to obey our parents, our governing officials, and yes, the guidelines during this Stay at Home order. If we are not careful, we can make the mistake of partial compliance. This happens when we make an attempt to comply with someone’s instructions only in part. Often, we find ourselves partially listening because we decide we know what is best. Our interpretation and adjustment of the instructions was necessary to accomplish the end goal. 

If we are not careful, we can find ourselves partially obeying God. Be Real – by being obedient! Today our text is 1 Samuel 13:8-14. The key verse we will focus our attention on is 13a – “And Samuel said to Saul, ‘You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the LORD your God, with which He commanded you.”

Context: Saul has now been the King of Israel for two years and faces the military threat of the Philistines. Saul had sent home the majority of his fighting force leaving him with 3,000 active soldiers. When the Philistines square-up with Saul they have 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horsemen, and too many ground soldiers to count. The response of Saul’s troops, understandably, was to run and hide in the nearby caves. Samuel, the prophet and final judge of Israel, visited various cities on a rotation and Saul was waiting for him to come to Gilgal. 

Lesson: Saul has grown impatient and he understands that the massive Philistine force is quickly intercepting their battle line. Saul also was dealing with the departure of his troops that remained. The fear of the Israelite men was so great that they were willing to hide in tombs! Saul, out of the pressure of his circumstances, decides to have an alter built and to offer a burnt offering to the Lord himself. This was a serious act of disobedience and one that costs Saul the future of the kingdom.

You see only select people were allowed to worship God through the sacrifices of burnt offerings. The tribe of the Levites and in this case, Samuel are the only people given this privilege. Saul took matters into his own hands in order to accomplish his end. He disobeyed God’s clear instructions with sacrifices in order to ask God to help him to win against the Philistines!

Application: At the core of obedience is trusting God’s way is better than my way! Let’s commit to listening and following God’s instructions. A key directive to obey during this time is to reject anxiety and rest in God! (Philippians 4:6-7).