Obedience is Not Optional

Obedience is not optional. Samuel spoke these words to King Saul:

“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
    as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
    and to listen than the fat of rams.
²³ For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
    and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
    he has also rejected you from being king.” 1 Samuel 15:22-23

The sad story leading to this announcement is found in 1 Samuel 15, and illustrates how sinful downfalls often happen. God ordered Saul to destroy the Amalekites and all their animals, to take no plunder. Saul only obeyed halfway. Fearing the people would be upset if everything was destroyed and no spoils were taken, he allowed King Agag to live, and the best of the animals were saved. Man’s struggle to obey a holy and jealous God goes back to the Garden of Eden, and continues up to the present day. We want to do things our way.

Obedience is not Optional When God Gives a Command

I used to tell my kids that if I could not hold someone up in front of them as a good example, I would use them as a bad example. King Saul is a bad example.

Saul gave in to the fear of man by failing to destroy everyone and everything, as God said. 1 Samuel 15:9 says, “But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.” Saul wanted the plunder for himself and his army. Saul was the king; if he had ordered everything destroyed in obedience to God, they would have done so. As king, he was to be an example to the people.

We sin when people’s opinions matter more than God’s commands. We are all slaves of something, whatever controls us is what we obey. Galatians 1:10 says, “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.” God doesn’t give partial credit. When He says something, He expects us to obey to the letter.

Obedience Demands that We Place God Above Self

How important are my desires compared to those of the God of the universe?

Saul not only failed to do as he was told, he went and built a monument to himself at Mount Carmel on the way home. When the prophet Samuel confronted him, he lied and claimed to have obeyed, 1 Samuel 15:13, “‘Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord.’” Again in 1 Samuel 15:20, he repeats, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord.” He justified his actions to himself until he believed he had obeyed.

Samuel equates such rebellion with the sin of divination or witchcraft. Saul’s behavior was an act of idolatry, misplaced worship. He believed his plans were better than God’s, meaning his idol was himself. That is pride. It is an insult to God, whose word is absolute truth, and as such, He demands that we obey all of it. In Deuteronomy 8:3, we read “man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Jesus quoted this during the time Satan tempted Him in Matthew 4:4.

Obedience Means We Adhere to God’s Truth

How much value do I place on God’s word? If I value it rightly, it will take precedence over everything else.

Saul claimed the animals were kept for sacrificial purposes, and blamed any disobedience on the people. He ascribed a more lofty purpose to their actions than greed. Samuel’s pronouncement denies the truth of Saul’s claim. God delights in our obedience more than He requires our sacrifices. Our obedience is never optional. There is no higher purpose than to honor God by obeying His commands exactly as He said. We must never put on a cloak of obedience to cover a sinful heart. “We have all become like one who is unclean,  and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” (Isaiah 64:6)

God’s word is a safety net to protect us from things that can hurt us, things that can take us far away from Him, and enslave us. “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16)

Obedience is Not Optional for the Child of God

In our world, obedience is a nebulous term. Everyone is following their own truth. But God looks at things differently. His word is the standard for everything in life. Nothing ranks above it.

The story of Saul’s downfall illustrates how important our obedience is to God. His commands are right and good, given by a loving God for the protection and good of His people. “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?” (Deuteronomy 10:12,13)

As Christians, we represent Jesus Christ to those around us. Our actions speak volumes about our reverence for the One we serve. When faced with choices, the standard that will never fail is the eternal, all powerful word of God. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” (Matthew 24:35)

How will you honor and obey the Lord in your actions this week?

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments.

1 John 5:2