The Heart to Obey
When the people of ancient Israel demanded a human king to rule over them like other nations, God gave them Saul, a man the people desired. He was a wealthy, good-looking and powerful man from the tribe of Benjamin. When Saul began his reign, he was actually a humble servant who was deeply submissive to God’s authority. He even received God’s mighty Spirit.
By God’s power, it says in 1 Samuel 10, Saul actually turned into another man—he became a man of God! After his anointing, verse 9 says God gave him “another heart.” This refers to God’s heart! God gave Saul His Holy Spirit so that he could develop a heart after God’s own heart. King Saul, in other words, was converted to God’s way of life.
Early on in Saul’s kingship, when Israel faced an imminent attack from Nahash and the Ammonites, Saul courageously rallied the Israelites to fight for God. He inspired the nation to look to both himself and Samuel for guidance, and he credited God for the subsequent victory.
Saul’s grave mistake, however, was that he didn’t remain humble and submissive before God. He began to rely more on his own army than God’s (1 Samuel 13:1-2). His faith started to weaken—the other heart he had at the start of his conversion started to disappear.
Two years into his reign, after an awe-inspiring victory against the Ammonites, we find the Israelite soldiers scattering before the Philistines. They were afraid because Saul lacked the God-fearing character needed to lead Israel at such a distressing time.
The Philistines were a formidable foe. The Bible says they advanced against Israel with 30,000 chariots (verse 5). But what a difference between the way Saul confronted this threat and the way he handled the Ammonites.
As the Philistines approached, Saul grew impatient in waiting for Samuel to arrive and to officiate the sacrifices for God on behalf of the nation. Samuel had told Saul he would arrive on the seventh day. Amazingly, the Philistine army, with all its armies and chariots arrayed for battle, remained still—encamped directly across from the Israelite soldiers. Neither army made the first move for seven days. But as the seventh day wore on, Saul could wait no longer and decided to take matters into his own hands.
He should have known he had no right to take charge of Samuel’s duties. He made a snap judgment and justified it by saying it was an emergency. God, however, saw this as rank rebellion. In one hasty moment of panicked reasoning, Saul usurped the authority of God.
He should have waited. Sometimes the best decision we can make—the biggest step forward we can take—is to wait patiently on God and His government to solve the problem.
When Samuel confronted Saul about this grave mistake, Saul attempted to justify his actions by blaming the people, the Philistines and even Samuel for arriving at the last minute, rather than simply confessing his sin and turning to God in repentance (verses 11-12).
Verse 13 says, “And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever.”
What an incredible verse. Had Saul obeyed, God would have established his kingdom—Saul’s kingdom—forever! But because of his rebellion, God cut off Saul’s kingdom soon after he died.
This was harsh punishment. But think about it: God had placed Saul right at the top of His chosen nation and given Saul His Holy Spirit. Furthermore, Saul had a prophet of God to look to for spiritual guidance and direction. He had been given everything he needed to go the right way. But when Saul refused to obey God’s commands and then tried to justify his rebellion, Samuel knew this would be the end of Saul.
Later on in the story, Saul would nearly sacrifice his own son just to uphold a hasty vow he shouldn’t have made in the first place. Saul was quite willing to sacrifice his son in order to uphold his own righteousness. He was quite dedicated when it came to his own principles and standards—but not God’s righteousness.
What a sad and tragic demise.
Early on in his conversion, Saul showed signs of being totally committed to God’s way of life. But in just a couple years, he became a big man in his own eyes. He became vain and self-righteous. When his mistakes were pointed out, he tried to justify his actions by blaming others, like the people—even God’s own prophet.
Saul proved that he was unwilling to wait on God. He stopped going to God for wisdom and discernment and instead made hasty, snap judgments. He was still zealous. He even made sacrifices to God. But it was all a human effort. It wasn’t according to God’s will.
Notice what Samuel said to Saul: “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” (1 Samuel 15:22). To obey God is better than sacrifice. What good is it if we sacrifice everything—but do it according to our own will and not God’s? First and foremost, God desires obedience from all of us.
When Saul heard that he had been rejected from being king, he seemed repentant at first (verses 24-25), but he wasn’t willing to make the necessary changes that he needed to in order to develop that “other heart”—a heart like God’s.
So God raised up another man who would develop a heart like His own (Acts 13:22)—one who would turn to Him in repentance and faith—one in whom God would establish an everlasting kingdom.