Today’s Podcast
Today’s Scriptures
Today’s Bible reading plans include:
Ready – 1 Samuel 15:10-23
Set – 1 Samuel 15; Matthew 1
Go! – 1 Samuel 15-16; 1 Chronicles 5; Matthew 1
1 Samuel 15:10-23
10 Then Samuel heard the voice of the Eternal.Eternal One: 11 I regret that I made Saul king over Israel because he has turned away from Me and from executing My commands.
Samuel was distressed when he heard this, and he cried out to the Eternal One all night long.
12 Then he rose early in the morning to go and find Saul, only to hear that Saul had gone on to Carmel, where he had erected a monument to himself, and returned to Gilgal. 13 At last Samuel caught up with Saul. When Saul saw him, he greeted him as if nothing was wrong.
Saul (to Samuel): May you be blessed by the Eternal One. I have carried out His commands.
Samuel: 14 Then why do I hear the sounds of sheep and cattle?
Saul: 15 They brought the best of the Amalekites’ sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Eternal One your God. But we destroyed all the rest as we were told.
Samuel: 16 That’s enough. Stop talking, and let me tell you what the Eternal told me last night.
Saul: Go ahead, I’m listening.
Samuel: 17 Don’t you remember when you didn’t amount to much in your own sight, but you were made the leader of the tribes of Israel? Wasn’t it the Eternal One who anointed you king over them? 18 The Eternal One sent you on a mission, commanding you, “Go and destroy the Amalekites, who are sinners. Fight them until they are completely destroyed.”
19 Why didn’t you obey the voice of the Eternal One? Why did you grab the spoils of battle, doing what the Eternal considers evil?
Saul (defending himself): 20 I did what the Eternal One instructed. As He commanded, I went on the mission and decimated all the Amalekites, and I have brought back Agag, their king. 21 It was the people who took the sheep and cattle from the spoil that would have been devoted to destruction and brought them back to sacrifice to the Eternal One, your True God, in Gilgal.
22 Samuel: Does the Eternal One delight in sacrifices and burnt offerings
as much as in perfect obedience to His voice?
Be certain of this: that obedience is better than sacrifice;
to heed His voice is better than offering the fat of rams.
23 Rebellion is as much a sin as fortune-telling,
and willfulness is as wicked as worshiping strange gods.
Because you have rejected His commands,
He has rejected you as king.
Today’s Devotional
From today’s background scripture God might say:
Watch how easily Saul tries to deflect his guilt. From the time of Adam men, women, and children have attempted to push the blame for their sin on someone else. But it never works. Samuel addressed Saul with the question of obedience to My command and Saul assured him he did everything he was supposed to do. I obeyed, they did the evil action. I decimated the Amelekites, they brought back the spoils.
Of course, if Saul had really carried out My command, Agag would not have been brought back. The spoils would have been destroyed. Nothing would remain of the Amelekites. No trace of their existence would remain. But Saul didn’t do what I asked. He thought he would appease his men for their efforts by sharing the spoils of war with them, rather than obeying My command to him. I imagine he was thinking more about gold than he was about Me in those days.
Maybe he thought he needed to reward his men with the spoils of the battle in order to keep their loyalty. But it’s not their loyalty he needed to worry about it. It was Mine. I needed a leader who would obey Me as this new nation grew. I needed someone who understood the riches of the land would come from Me, not from the bounty taken from the previous occupants or from their conquests of war. I wanted peace across the land, though sometimes peace required violent means to achieve it.
It’s not easy to accept the blame for the wrongs you do, but it is the first and necessary step toward your redemption. If Saul had accepted his role and responsibility in the actions of the soldiers that day, he might have saved his kingdom and his life. But he didn’t. He refused to budge an inch. Consequently, his throne fell in a monumental chapter of history to a shepherd king named David, a man after My heart.
Are there things in your life you need to own up to? Have you failed to accept responsibility for some of the wrongs that put yourself or others in jeopardy because of actions or decisions you’ve made? Maybe it’s time to step up to the plate and do what you know you must do to rid yourself of the guilt that comes from the wrongdoing in your life. Just open yourself to Me with a repentant and contrite heart. I can do the rest.
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