The Night God Grieved 1- Partial Obedience
The Lord had called the prophet Samuel, one night. It was unusual of God called in such tone – the prophet noticed something different about God’s voice that Night. He perceived grieve, but waited to hear want God had to say. The Lord spake to the prophet “I am grieved that I made Saul king, he has turned away from me and would not carry out my instructions” (1Samuel15:11) . Samuel wondered what Saul must have done wrong to make God grieve. The prophet didn’t sleep that Night as he cried out to God through the night.
King Saul had been on divine assignment – the total massacre of the Amalekites. Saul was prompt about the instruction, he set out with his troops immediately he got the message from prophet Samuel. Saul annihilated the Amalekites as God demanded, but he spared the King Agag and the best of animals. God did not allege that King Saul had committed adultery, treason or violated any of the ten commandments. God didn’t charge Saul of any kind of sin, the Lord was specific that the king had turned away from him. King Saul spared Agag for his personal glory and he considered the opinion of men in sparing the best of cattle. He though claimed that this was to be for sacrifice to the God of Samuel. Saul turned away from God by serving other gods – he idolized himself and acted out the opinion of men over God’s injunction. This caused God to grieve on why he made Saul King. God must have wondered why he didn’t wait for David, or why he didn’t send another Melchizedek till David was fully prepared for the throne. King Saul’s obedience was prompt, but partial which does not pass as obedience before God.
Many times as Christians, we are faced with the dilemma of obedience- prompt and total. Sometimes we want to obey God to a certain level and carry on with our own personal ambition. Immediately we make adjustments to Heaven’s mandate or demands over our lives – God perceives it as rebellion. Obedience is complete and prompt compliance to an obligation. Jesus said- the works that my father do, I shall do and what you see me do, you must do. He didn’t say part of the works that God sent him to do. We must totally oblige to the mandate of divine assignments. The Amalekites exalted themselves against God’s knowledge, when they waylaid Israel on their way to Canaan. God thus sort a perfect time to deal with them. God wanted to punish Amalekites through Saul’s obedience but Saul almost thwarted the plan until Samuel put Agag to death.
Every time God sends us on divine assignments, we must count it as a worthy privilege because there are several replacements to us and he can as well raise stones to carry out his purpose. We must understand that every divine assignment is for the good and benefit of man, that God’s name may be glorified in our lives. Abraham obeyed God without making adjustments when asked to Sacrifice Isaac. Today, he is referred to as the progenitor of salvation and father of faith. Moses obeyed God diligently until he struck the rock, the instruction was to hit and not strike. He did every other thing as demanded of the Lord, but that singular act of partial obedience cost him the promised land. The wedding at Cana is another good illustration, Jesus told the servants to fill the water pots – so they did without adjustments. We must diligently obey God’s instructions at all times, without leaving anything undone. The joy of complete obedience is to man’s favour – taking into captivity, every disobedience when our obedience is complete (2Cor10:5-6). God wanted to take out all strongholds that would rise against Saul in his reign as KING, but his obedience was incomplete so he couldn’t conquer the Goliath et al. Jesus also had to punish the shame of finished wine at wedding. Jesus was at a wedding and lack wanted to exalt itself above Christ (John2:2-8).
The tragedy of partial obedience is that it robs a man of God’s eternal glory: Ananias and Sapphira sold their land, brought part of the money but they were struck dead(Acts5:1-10) – the obedience was incomplete. Moses missed Canaan and the devil still contended for his body for partial obedience (Jude1:9). Saul’s incomplete Obedience cost him the throne, God’s presence and eventual shameful death. It is thus admonished that we are complete about God’s instructions, because any adjustments is perceived as rebellion to Heaven.
To access the life of a Victor. You must have a relationship with Jesus. Confess Jesus as your Lord and savior today, believing he died for your sins and resurrected for your justification.
