Obeying God’s Word Means Obeying Gods Word

So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint you king over Israel? Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy 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 swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the LORD?” And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.” 1 Sam. 15:17-21

Saul was told to utterly destroy the Amalekites and all of their possessions. He was to kill their men, women, children, and animals. Everything of the Amalekites was to be destroyed. Saul and the Israelites killed the women, children, and all of the men, except for the king. They had destroyed all of the animals, except for the best.

Samuel asked Saul why he had disobeyed the Lord and Saul’s reply was that he didn’t. Saul believed - or wanted to believe - that he had obeyed the Lord. After all, the only Amalekite left was the king and the only animals and possessions that were not destroyed were “to sacrifice to the LORD”.

However, even though Saul and the Israelites may have thought that they were doing well to keep some animals and spoil for sacrificing to God, the fact is that they weren’t. This act did not please God. As Samuel pointed out, this was an act of disobedience.

Many people of the world perform actions that they believe to be right. Many religious people believe they are obeying God when being a part of various denominations. The things that they do may make sense to them, while many things that we, as Christians, do don’t make sense to them. But regardless of what makes sense to us, it is God’s way that matters.

Things might not make complete sense to us but we must remember that God’s ways are above our own (Isa. 55:9). If we wish to obey God then we must actually obey God!

                -- John Thrower Jr.