Values Exchange

King Saul of Israel had a choice. Samuel the Prophet had delivered the command from God: destroy everything of the Amalekites, including all the oxen and sheep. Saul went to war as God told him but something happened on the way to victory that cost Saul dearly.

1 Samuel 15:9 "But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fatted calves and the lambs and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction."

That one act cost Saul the kingdom. Saul's problem (one of them anyway) was that he misjudged what was important to God. When Samuel anointed Saul king he hid away showing to others that he felt little of himself. In doing so he denigrated the fact that whom God chooses God uses. Later here we see him misjudge what is of value to God. Saul perhaps thought that God wouldn't mind if he decided what should be kept. Not only was that wrong, it was also disobedient.

Just because the Word of God doesn't seem to make sense doesn't mean we have the option to disobey. When Jesus said "Pray for your enemies" He didn't mean "pray for your enemies except those you want to blast off the face of the earth!"

God's values are not the same as our human values. When it comes down to a choice I encourage us to determine what God considers worthy and focus on those things.

Pastor Tom