The core and heart of the Christian faith is obedience to God’s will. If the believer is not listening to God, or doing the will of God and keeping His commandments, the believer is wasting his or her time pretending he/she is serving the Lord. That believer, he/she will not find favour with God or enjoy the blessings of God.

The story of King Saul in the Scriptures, the first king of Israel is fascinating and disturbing. It is a story everyone must study and ponder about: kings or politicians, or paupers, or ordinary people, etc. It is a story that has the potential to elevate or destroy. It is you either live a life of obedience to God’s will and be blessed with peace, or you live a life of disobedience and self will, and the end result is fear, restlessness and final separation from God someday.

1. King Saul’s humble beginning & reign:

Here we witness one of the most tragic and humiliating stories in the Scriptures. God anoints Saul the first king of Israel. He is from the most humble home and exalted as king. It was a time of turbulence, fear and war in Israel; and Israel wanted a king to lead and rule them, and God-appointed King Saul. Israel had many enemies attacking them. The Philistines were all over the place to invade Israel. Rather than wait for Samuel, the prophet of God who anointed him to guide and direct on what to do, King Saul out of fear did the sacrifice that only Samuel the prophet of God can do. Immediately after he finished offering the sacrifice, Samuel appeared and rebuked his disobedience to God‘s will: offering a sacrifice only the priest of God anointed was supposed to do.

Saul says to Samuel:

“Therefore said I, The Philistines will come down now upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication unto the Lord: I forced myself therefore, and offered a burnt offering.” 1 Samuel 13:12

Samuel replied:

“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 forever. ¹⁴ But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.” 1 Samuel 13:13-14

2 King Saul’s continual disobedience & rejection as the king:

King Saul was sent on an errand again. He was given specific instruction against the Amalekites on the treatment offered to Israel. He was told to destroy them, but he went to the war and brought back everything he saw in the war that was beautiful: spared the king and brought him to Israel, completely against the commandment of God on what he was told to carry out.

Samuel told him:

“And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel?” 1 Samuel 15:17

Samuel continued:

“And Samuel said, 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. ²³ 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.” 1 Samuel 15: 22-23

3 Warning to humanity:

Disobedience to God’s commandments leads to destruction and death. Continual disobedience and refusal to repent will link you automatically to the demonic world. You are either serving the Lord in obedience to His will, or you are serving the devil in your self-will and your own desires. There is no in-between. This king humbly elected from nowhere becomes the king of Israel; will not listen to God’s commandments and will; always had excuses to justify his actions, and finally linked himself to the demonic world. King Saul became possessed by an evil spirit. At the height of Israel’s turbulence, surrounded by enemies, this arrogant and self-willed king will go to seek the witch at Endor, instead of seeking God’s guidance. That was how desperately he had deteriorated mentally. He will finally destroy himself by taking his own life.

A life of arrogance, self will, and stubbornness will only lead us to destruction: individually, as kings, as politicians, or otherwise. As God is reaching out to us to do what is just and repent of our sins; telling our political leaders and allies to do what is just and right in these turbulent times in history, God’s grace will time out and judgment will set in like king Saul. The end will be the destruction of the individual or politicians, or the nations involved. We are almost at that point where God is wooing us to repent and do what is just in our lives, Syria, America, Russia, the Caribbean, and other parts of the world before we are slaughtered in the Third World Nuclear War.

A songwriter said this:

TRUST AND OBEY

“When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word
What a glory He sheds on our way
While we do His good will, He abides with us still
And with all who will trust and obey

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy with Jesus, but to trust and obey

Not a shadow can rise, not a cloud in the skies
But His smile quickly drives it away
Not a doubt or a fear, not a sigh or a tear
Can abide while we trust and obey

Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share
But our toil He doth richly repay
Not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross
But is blessed if we trust and obey

But we never can prove the delights of His love
Until all on the altar we lay
For the favor He shows, for the joy He bestows
Are for them who will trust and obey

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go
Never fear, only trust and obey”
(Daniel B. Towner).