Ok, I admit that I have been spending A LOT of time in study recently, so welcome to my mini-classroom today! I don’t know about you, but I prefer to learn the “hard lessons” from someone else’s experience vs. experiencing them for myself! So here it goes…
Lessons From a Bad Leader
(1 Samuel 15:18-21, 24-26) -all italics & bold added
A Command is Given by God
And the LORD sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction 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 pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?”
1. Saul disobeys- God said to destroy everyone and everything, Saul keeps the best of what his enemies owned and saves the king. Saul decides to be merciful when God has called for judgement.
And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the LORD. I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction.
2. Saul denies his wrong doing and focuses on the fact that he went on the mission (yes, he did GO on the mission, but he didn’t OBEY God while he was there!)
But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”
3. Saul blames “the people” for the wrong actions
4. Saul justifies their actions by saying they did this to honor the LORD and plan to use the plunder as a sacrifice to the LORD. (That’s like saying, “I’m going to rob a bank to give it to my church!”)
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. (1 Samuel 15:24)
5. Finally, Saul admits he feared people more than God.
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.” (1 Samuel 15:26)
6. There are consequences for our rebellion, Saul loses his position as king over Israel.
As believers we will not lose our salvation for disobedience but we may lose positions God has placed us in, as well as rewards He may want to give us in Heaven. Saul feared men more than God. Saul traded his “calling” from God, for pleasing man instead, have you?
“And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” Matthew 10:28
“Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name.” Malachi 3:16
Written by Jamie Shaver