March 30: Kindness doesn't make sin disappear!

1 Samuel 14:46-52, 1 Chron. 5:10,18-22, 1 Samuel 15

1 Samuel 15

Amplified Bible (AMP)

15 Samuel told Saul, The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people Israel. Now listen and heed the words of the Lord.

² Thus says the Lord of hosts, I have considered and will punish what Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way when [Israel] came out of Egypt.

³ Now go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.

⁴ So Saul assembled the men and numbered them at Telaim—200,000 men on foot and 10,000 men of Judah.

⁵ And Saul came to the city of Amalek and laid wait in the valley.

⁶ Saul warned the Kenites, Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.

⁷ Saul smote the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt.

⁸ And he took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, though he utterly destroyed all the rest of the people with the sword.

⁹ Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, oxen, fatlings, lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them; but all that was undesirable or worthless they destroyed utterly.

¹⁰ Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying,

¹¹ I regret making Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not performed My commands. And Samuel was grieved and angry [with Saul], and he cried to the Lord all night.

¹² When Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, he was told, Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up for himself a monument or trophy [of his victory] and passed on and went down to Gilgal.

¹³ And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, Blessed are you of the Lord. I have performed what the Lord ordered.

¹⁴ And Samuel said, What then means this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?

¹⁵ Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but the rest we have utterly destroyed.

¹⁶ Then Samuel said to Saul, Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me tonight. Saul said to him, Say on.

¹⁷ Samuel said, When you were small in your own sight, were you not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed you king over Israel?

¹⁸ And the Lord sent you on a mission and said, Go, utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites; and fight against them until they are consumed.

¹⁹ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord, but swooped down upon the plunder and did evil in the Lord’s sight?

²⁰ Saul said to Samuel, Yes, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag king of Amalek and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.

²¹ But the people took from the spoil sheep and oxen, the chief of the things to be utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.

²² Samuel said, Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

²³ For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim (household good luck images). Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.

²⁴ And Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned; for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.

²⁵ Now, I pray you, pardon my sin and go back with me, that I may worship the Lord.

²⁶ And Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.

²⁷ And as Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of Samuel’s mantle, and it tore.

²⁸ And Samuel said to him, The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.

²⁹ And also the Strength of Israel will not lie or repent; for He is not a man, that He should repent.

³⁰ Saul said, I have sinned; yet honor me now, I pray you, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord your God.

³¹ So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.

³² Then Samuel said, Bring here to me Agag king of the Amalekites. And Agag came to him cheerfully. And Agag said, Surely the bitterness of death is past.

³³ Samuel said, As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women. And Samuel hewed Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.

³⁴ Then Samuel went to Ramah, but Saul went up to his house in Gibeah of Saul.

³⁵ And Samuel came no more to see Saul until the day of his death, though Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord repented that He had made Saul king over Israel.

Why didn't Saul humbly repent and change his ways? He just continued down his disobedient, prideful path. And he lied repeatedly.

^"22 Samuel said, Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

²³ For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim (household good luck images). Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king."

Its very common these days for people to live sacrificial lives in the midst of their sin. We admire movie stars and singers who travel to developing countries and donate large sums of money and adopt orphaned children. Somehow we think doing good covers up a sinful lifestyle. It does not. Obedience is what counts. Obedience coupled up with sacrifice is what God requires. 

"Dear God, Your word is very clear to me this morning. I must not be rebellious. Also hitting me in the face is "stubborness is as idolatry". I just prayed I will worship only You, Oh Lord. And now I find that my stubborness is the same as worshipping other gods??? Okay, this stubborn woman is fearfully repenting one again. Please rip away my stubborness. I must be soft and moldable under Your mighty hand. And You're reminding me that many times You use humans to mold me. So my stubborn will has to go. I give You all the glory for the work You are doing in my life. In Your precious name, the name above every name, the name of Jesus, AMEN."