The Heart of Disobedience

Compliance will make God’s power manifest in your life!

Compliance—hearing the word of God and acting on it!

There is no amount of sacrifices, that will substitute for spiritually, mandated compliance! We are to hear, (not reject) then comply.

Disobedience is considered “evil” by the Lord!…and evil is SIN!! (1 Sam. 15)

Why the Lord rejected Saul

And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst “evil” in the sight of the Lord? And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal. (blame-shifting) And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?

Behold, to obey (comply) is better than sacrifice, and to “hear” than the fat of rams.(v.23)

For rebellion is as the “sin” of “witchcraft” and stubbornness, is as iniquity & idolatry.

Saul, “because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, God has also rejected you from being King.” These words are a strong rebuke to Saul! What Saul considered as trivial, God held of great importance. Remember, God clearly articulates what is important to Him.

The real problem is this idea of ‘just a little’ disobedience.” Disobedience is rebellion, because one insists on their own will; against the Lord’s will. ie…“I prefer to do it my way, thank you!” Rebellion is just like the sin of divination. Divination can be translated as witchcraft. It is not a subtle word. HEAR!

The Prophet Samuel, not only confronts Saul about his rebellion—but of witchcraft. Perhaps this rebellion meant that Saul used God as a manipulative tool to get what he wants. After careful study, we do not find any sense from Saul, that he was on God’s mission. God sent King Saul who was the one in charge, on a mission to wipe out the Amalekites. This is where the insubordination comes in. KING SAUL LIVED AS IF HE WAS NOT UNDER THE LORD’S RULES, PRINCIPLES AND MANDATES. This is CALLED iniquity and idolatry and because of this, God rejected Saul from being king.

A sense of delusion had stepped into the life of Saul in his disobedience. He thought so much of what he wanted to do, so much so, that he could not hear, nor think any different!

Samuel, the Prophet confronted him of the two things that he neglected:

(1) He did not exterminate all the Amalekites - King Agag was alive, and;

(2) Due to greed, the people did not kill off all the livestock, but kept the good for themselves.

However, Saul was still convinced that he had indeed, obeyed the Lord. He apparently could not fully understand where Samuel was coming from. He insisted that he did obey the Lord, that he didn’t let any escape; and that Agag was indeed captured.

There are two ways to manage sin.

Usually, those who are aware of God’s standards and so when being confronted, they humble themselves and acknowledge their sin. They have been very aware of it.

Others, like Saul, are not at all thinking of the details. They are self absorbed.

Saul wasn’t focused on the mission of God - which was that he destroy the Amalekites. He didn’t realize that he was fighting for the Lord. He gave little thought about whether allowing King Agag to live, or letting the people take livestock; was right or wrong!

So it was easy for him to dismiss this confrontation with some ego-boosting ideas. Saul thought he was doing the Lord a good, by bringing the idea of Agag’s defeat, as an offering before God, and that this would offset any possible issues of rebellion or disobedience. He trivialized his sin.

Take-Aways

  • Saul did not just make a simple mistake. He lived as if he was not under God’s service.

  • He believed that he could handle things okay. God was just another tool to get what he wanted.

    If a leader is not willing to risk his leadership to carry out God’s standards and regulations, then everyone will suffer.

  • A person’s absence of the fear of the Lord can be detected by not carrying out one’s God-given duty.

  • God treats incompletion or partial compliance as disobedience.

    Outward victory is not be understood as inner victory.


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