Pleasing People or Pleasing God | 1 Samuel 15:24-33

Vince Miller Podcast

Are you leading others toward following God's voice, or are they leading you?

Welcome to the Daily Devo. I am Vince Miller.

This week, we are in 1 Samuel 15. I've titled this chapter "The Consequences of Disobedience."

In yesterday's devotional, we discussed how Saul's insecurity led him to disobedience, masking his fears with empty sacrifices. We explored the importance of confessing our insecurities to God before they drive us into sin. Today, we will read the consequences of his disobedience. We start with verse 24:

Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. — 1 Samuel 15:24

King Saul finally breaks down. His rationalizing, deflecting, blaming, and explaining end because he finally feels the consequences of his sin. But you need to see the issue. His insecurities have led him to listen to the wrong voice. Instead of listening to God's voice, he was listening to the people's. Instead of pleasing God, he is trying to please the people.

This verse outright rejects democracy in the transition from Judges to the Kings. We learn that democracy was not God's plan. We all know why. People are sinful, and sometimes, so is their voice. They advocate and vote for their selfish desires. For those in the US, we live in this socio-political experiment, and it won't end well. In Saul's situation, he was appointed God's voice to the people, not vice versa.

I cannot predict the future of our nation or any nation. But I know this: believers can always be a voice for God in a sinful world. We can proclaim God's voice into a world that proclaims their own. This world has no problem with proclaiming its ideologies. They are willing to sacrifice the unborn and their vas deferens to their ideologies. But as believers, we have a divine call to be the voice of God in a world that chooses to ignore his voice and listen to its own. While you have breath, this is what you should be doing. Proclaiming the voice of God to your family, workplace, church, and the world.

Next here is what Saul says next in 25-31:

"Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the Lord.” And Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you. For you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.” As Samuel turned to go away, Saul seized the skirt of his robe, and it tore. And Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.” Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may bow before the Lord your God.” So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul bowed before the Lord. — 1 Samuel 15:25-31

Saul appears to be repentant, but we see his sin has consequences. This is true in every form of leadership. Sin has dire consequences that affect our ability to lead others and continue in the same role. Saul should not be surprised by this. Listening to God was the condition of his continuity as the leader of the people. Go back to 1 Samuel 12:14-15:

If you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, and if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God, it will be well. But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you and your king. — 1 Samuel 12:14-15

This draws out one of the great tensions of leadership. Leadership is contingent on our followership of God. You see God is the only leader. The rest of us are followers. However some of us are allowed, or in this case as Saul appointed to the leadership of God's followers. If we steward our leadership well, we may be allowed to steward a greater following. But if we fail, we are removed and rejected from leadership. We can repent and bow before God, but this does not always result in us continuing with the role because we were unable to steward the conditions of the role. This is why I am okay with God removing me or any other fallen spiritual leader from their role if they are unable to lead God's people. And as we know, God is going to anoint a new leader, David, who enters the story in the next chapter.

But still, then there is some unfinished business. Let's read a couple of more verses:

Then Samuel said, “Bring here to me Agag the king of the Amalekites.” And Agag came to him cheerfully. Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” And Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag to pieces before the Lord in Gilgal. — 1 Samuel 15:32-33

Samuel had to do what the King was supposed to do.

I love this ending, not because of the brutality of it, nor because I am a man of the cloth, but because it makes a profound point. It takes a man of God who hears the voice of God to do the work of God.

If you go back to Chapter 12 again, you will see that the people felt Samuel was getting to old and they wanted a successor. But instead of finding another man of God to act as Judge and Prophet, the people demanded a King. God gave them what they wanted, but as we see here the King is not up for the task. So a very old man chosen by God has to do the work that the King won't do.

The bottom line is, God chooses leaders who listen to him. These are the leaders he appoints to lead his followers and nothing less. So listen to God today and do nothing less otherwise you too will be removed.

#LeadByFaith, #ListenToGod, #ObeyHisVoice