Our family had a dachshund when I was born up in Amarillo. One day my dad heard the dog yelping and asked my three-year-old brother, “Daniel, why is the dog yelping?” My brother reportedly answered, “I don’t know dad. I wasn’t even pulling his tail.” To quote Shakespeare, my brother protested too much, revealing his guilt.
So how was the great royal experiment going for Israel? Not well. After Saul became king, he chose to disobey God by not fulfilling the Lord’s word in battle. When Samuel came, Saul made excuses, saying he kept some of the animals and spoils from the battle to offer God a sacrifice. Perhaps he did not kill Agag because he wanted to keep him as a trophy of war as other ancient kings did. Samuel answered him, “To obey is better than sacrifice.”
You have heard the expression, “It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.” This idea may be expedient, but it is not biblical. When we know what God wants us to do, we should do it right away. Thomas a Kempis was right when he wrote, “Instant obedience is the only kind of obedience. Delayed obedience is disobedience.”
Forgiveness does not always obviate consequences for our choices. God forgives but he does not always erase the results of our actions. Saul lost the kingdom, not on a technicality, but because of a pattern of impatient disobedience. Leaders bear even greater responsibility for obedience because others follow our examples. When we disobey we doubt that God’s way is best for us. How will that work for us? Not well.
Let us carefully consider: what is God telling us to do today? What are we waiting for? There is no time like the present to obey God. James put it well, “If anyone knows the good they ought to do, but does not do it. It is sin for them” (James 4:17).
