Dr. James Vardaman, my history professor at Baylor brought British history to life for his students. Are you also intrigued by Royal court intrigue? So many in our country are. The American fascination with royalty fascinates the people of other countries. In recent years, fictional stories and entertainment revolve around stories of kings and the complicated relationships within their governments. In our own country, we want to know the goings on in the inner circles of the White House, Congress, and the courts.
As we read the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, we realize that power struggles characterized government thousands of years ago. This year, I have thought more about King Saul’s struggles as he learned to lead. Time and again he acted out of anger and impatience. We watch Samuel agonize over the young king. When he heard that God had decided to remove Saul as King, Samuel cried out to the Lord all night. He wanted Saul to succeed. Saul seemingly refused to obey God and help himself succeed.
“It is easier to get forgiveness than permission.” Have you heard that expression? When Saul botched the battle with the Amalekites by keeping some of the spoils of war, Samuel confronted him. Saul reminds us of a young boy who has been caught as he argues, “But I have obeyed the Lord,” though he knows he has not. One cannot be “mostly” obedient. Delayed obedience is disobedience. At this point, Saul was willing to sacrifice the best of the spoils to God in worship. Samuel’s words ring with a timeless spiritual reverberation: “To obey is better than sacrifice.”
We all make mistakes. The real question remains: do we try to justify our errors? There is forgiveness for those who turn to the Lord. Saul even asked for forgiveness, but the consequences remained. Was he sad that he sinned, or sad that he was caught? God sees more than we do. Saul had failed to trust in the Lord and had lost the Lord’s trust.
What has God asked us to do? Have we done it? The best we can do today is obey. If we have disobeyed, we turn to Christ. There is fullness of forgiveness. Spurgeon said, “The pardon of sin is not the result of weeks of fasting, months of repentance, and years of mortification. The sinner’s eye looks to Christ and the sinner’s sin is gone at once.”
