Does God Really Expect Us To Obey Him?
King Saul Found Out And Lost Everything
King Saul’s Lesson, A Lesson For Us
The story of King Saul is a sad account but serves as an important lesson for all of us today.
Does God really expect us to follow and do His Word and His commandments exactly as they are written?
Saul was given specific directions from God, but chose to obey them only partially. He lost his Kingdom because of his disobedience. God chose David as the King that would replace Saul.
But Those Were the Bible Times
Haven’t times ‘changed’ and are we not at liberty to pick and choose what seems right to us? Didn’t Jesus obey them so we don’t have to? Don’t we have ‘grace’ so we don’t have to obey God’s commandments? You can’t expect me to obey those commandments!
The Bible tells us:
“There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Proverbs 14:12
Which People Will Have A Right To The Tree of Life In Heaven?
Rev 22:14
“Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
Many seem to think that God’s 10 commandments are optional and we can pick and choose which ones suit us in our current life situation, much like a buffet dinner.
Do we seriously take God at His Word and what He says?
And what about that Sabbath Commandment, the longest one of all ten?
What Is the Sabbath Commandment?
God’s Ten Commandments, given at Mt. Sinai, were for all people in all ages. Never have they been changed by God or Jesus His Son. You can read them in Exodus chapter 20.
What does God say in that 4th Sabbath Commandment found in Exodus 20:8-11 ?
8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Wasn’t That Sabbath Commandment Only For the Jews?
No. The Sabbath commandment was established at the end of the Creation week, before a Jew or sin existed. See Genesis 2:2-3.
What Happened to King Saul?
The Lord sent Samuel to King Saul with a special message. “Go,” he said, “and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not, but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.”
Saul was faithful and zealous in performing a part of his commission.
He smote the Amalekites with a great slaughter; but he took the proposition of the people before the command of God, and spared Agag, the king, and “the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fallings, and of the lambs, and all that was good.”
The Lord commanded Saul to “utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.”
The Lord knew that this wicked nation would, if it were possible, blot out his people and worship from the earth; and for this reason he had commanded that even the little children should be cut off.
But Saul had spared the king, the most wicked and merciless of them all; one who had hated and destroyed the people of God, and whose influence had been strongest to promote idolatry.
Saul thought that he had done all that was essential which the Lord commanded him to do. Perhaps he even flattered himself that he was more merciful than his Maker, as do some unbelievers in our day.
He met Samuel with the salutation,
“Blessed be thou of the Lord; I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”
But when the prophet asked what meant the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the oxen which he heard, Saul was obliged to confess that the people had taken of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord in Gilgal.
Did the Lord Accept Saul’s Justification As A Reason To Disobey Him?
Was God pleased with this partial obedience, and willing to pass over the trifle that had been neglected out of so good a motive?
Saul did what he thought was best. Wouldn’t the Lord commend such excellent judgment of Saul?
No!
Said Samuel,
“Hath 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 hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.”
What About Our First Parents, Adam and Eve?
This should be our biggest lesson of all. God and the angels told them of their requirements to live in the beautiful Garden of Eden and the consequences if they were disobedient. They disobeyed and died and we have lived under the curse ever since.
Should we not take God seriously at His Word? Should we not learn from the mistakes of those who have gone before us?
These instances show how God looks upon his professed people when they obey part of his commandments while in other respects they follow a course of their own choosing.
Let No One Flatter Himself That Part of God’s Requirements Are Optional.
God has placed no command in his Word that men may obey or disobey at will, and not suffer the consequences.
If men choose any other path than that of strict obedience, they will find that “the end thereof are the ways of death.”
If we are going to be prepared to go to heaven and live in a sinless Kingdom of God, we must start preparing by obeying God here on earth. Sin is the transgression of God’s law and the wages of sin is death.
Yes, God is very serious about each of us keeping His Seventh Day Sabbath holy each week, and that is a specific period of time, sundown Friday night through sundown Saturday night. These are God’s commands to us all, written by His own finger, in stone.