Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 15:3, “Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”
In my opinion, if God were to come to one of us today and give us this same command, there would be a lot of rationalizing as to why this would be wrong. As a matter of fact, I am pretty sure that many of us would be just as disobedient as King Saul, if not more so, because we would interject our own opinion that killing anyone, including women, children and animals would just be wrong in all kinds of ways. Yet, the command that God gave King Saul was very clear. Here is where we, even today, walk that fine line of interjecting our personal opinions and feelings, and often conclude that what we think and what we feel overrides what God commands us to do. Some will argue that this is not true, but I will prove it with some examples. God said, in Exodus 20:13, “Thou shall not kill.” Yet, I hear many Christians advocating for “freedom of choice” and murdering unborn babies. Before any of you get upset at that statement, when we vote for those who advocate for this, we are saying that we agree with them. Colossians 3:13-14 clearly commands, “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; 13 bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.” How do we often respond to that? “But Lord, you just don’t understand what they did to me. How can I forgive them for that?” Ephesians 5:22 and 25 read, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. 25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her”, for which we often respond, “But she he doesn’t follow God and act ungodly. He’s a hypocrite!” “Lord, she disrespects me and doesn’t act like a godly wife.” Do I really need to go on? Okay, I’ll give you one more. Jesus commanded us in Matthew 5:43-44, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you”. How long do we go holding on to the bitterness of the wrong done to us, and instead of forgiving and praying for our enemies, we seek for ways to get even and pray that God will cause evil to enter into their lives, “so they know what it feels like”? As Christians, we are too quick to justify our disobedience with our feelings, and what we have been brainwashed to believe is acceptable and right in society, which more often than not is the complete opposite of what is right and true, based on God’s truth. King Saul disobeyed based on what was right in his own eyes, and then blamed the people for his rebellious decision (v.21). He did what we often do. We refuse to obey God’s command completely, so we half-obey, do “some” of what is commanded, and count it as obedience. Yet, God sees partial obedience as complete disobedience. In verse 20, King Saul says 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.” Samuel’s response to him in verses 22 and 23, “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 heed than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.” We think we can cover up or make amends for our disobedience by our good works, but just as our good works cannot earn us eternal life, good works done as a way to justify our disobedience is unacceptable. To say that we love Jesus, but then refuse to obey His Word clearly demonstrates that our love for Him is lacking. When we decide that we will compromise God’s Word, knowing that we are compromising it, because we deemed that obeying it is viewed as intolerant, or viewed as narrow-minded, or flies in the face of our own emotions and opinions, it says to God that we think we know better than Him what is best, and what is truth. When God called King Saul to wipe out that entire nation of people, He was justified in giving that command. The next time we are faced with obeying one of God’s “tough” commands, before we choose to disobey it, we should stop and ask ourselves, “Who made me God, that I think I now know better than He?”
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
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