Obedience continued...

Obedience, above Sacrifice, cont.

 I Samuel 15 
So Saul has victory over the Amalekites, because the Lord was with him, and had made a promise to Moses hundreds of years earlier that the Amalekites would be wiped off the face of the earth.

 He keeps the best of the cattle and the king of the Amalekites alive, not following through with what the Lord instructed him to do. The Lord told Samuel that He was grieved that he made Saul King, not only because he did not carry out His instructions, but because Saul turned away from the Lord.

 In verse 12, Samuel goes out to meet Saul, but was told that Saul had gone to Carmel, to set up a monument to honor his self!

Sounds like Saul was taking credit for the victory. So Samuel goes up to Carmel to meet Saul, and when Saul sees him, he greets him with "The Lord bless you. I have carried out the Lord’s instructions."

 Samuel hears the sheep and the cattle making their animal noises, and says, "what do I hear, if you have carried out the Lord’s instructions?" So Saul starts with the first excuse. "The soldiers brought them."

Then he says…yeah that’s it, the soldiers spared those sheep and cattle so we can give them up as a sacrifice to the Lord…yeah, that’s the ticket.

 At this point Samuel stopped him.

 Verse 17:
Samuel said, "Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel."

 When did Saul become so exalted in his own eyes?

 Sometimes we can totally mess up our anointing when pride slips in. Lord keep us humble! Saul sticks to his story that he took the best cattle to sacrifice them to the Lord.

But then Samuel says:
 Verse 22:
 Does the Lord delight in burnt sacrifices as much as obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. (Whoa heavy huh?) Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you as king.

The lesson for those of us who are on this side of the above event?

 Brothers, and sisters, we do not want to be like Saul and lose our anointing. We have to fully rely on the Lord for all that we do. We have to follow what it is that God has instructed us to do and we have to remember to not become arrogant about any blessings, gifts, or anointing He has bestowed on us.