What Becomes of A Rebel?

March 22, 2010 What Becomes of A Rebel?

Prayer   Merciful Father,  Teach me to trust and obey You. Above all circumstance and situation give me  wisdom and grace to believe your word more than the challenges that lie before me.  I  know that you are the good Shephard and you lead and guide your sheep.  Lead me,  Lord.  Teach me your ways so that I may walk in them. In Jesus' name, Amen. What Becomes of A Rebel ?by Veronica Garrett   22 But Samuel replied:         "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices         as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD ?         To obey is better than sacrifice,         and to heed is better than the fat of rams.   23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination,         and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.         Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,         he has rejected you as king."  1Samuel 15: 22-23    Any person or group of people who set their face to rebel against God will experience the consequence of this decision.  King Saul had received instruction through the prophet Samuel from the Lord to destroy the Amalekites and everything that belonged to them. The instructions were clear and concise.  Samuel said to Saul, "I am the one the LORD sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the LORD. This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt.  Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy  everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.' " (1 Samuel 15:1-3) When Saul attacked the Amalekites he took King Agag alive and he also took the best of the sheep, cattle, fat calves and lambs.  He disobeyed God's instructions not to take any plunder and to kill all the people.  In many cases God allowed his people to take plunder from war but when he said don't touch it He meant it.  These were holy wars.  As if it isn't bad enough that Saul has disobeyed God, when confronted by Samuel he says he was going to use the best of the plunder to make an offering to God.  Offer something he wasn't suppose to have.  Leaving King Agag alive is like killing all the members of a gang and letting their leader live. This is when Saul learns that obedience is better than sacrifice because his decision to rebel against God caused him his leadership position. In Christiandom, quite naturally we frown on idolatry and witchcraft but rebeling against God is comparable to these sins.  Quite often we aren't loud and obnoxious about it, we just go our own way when God is instructing us differently.  How costly is this? In Saul's case, the Amalekites were a people who were against what was godly.  The nice guy Saul decided to let their leader, King Agag live. First of all, the Amalekites had attacked the Israelites after they fled from Egypt so God was going to punish them using Saul. In Exodus 17:8-16, Joshua fought the Amalekites and as long as Moses arm was held up he was victorious.  In fact Aaron and Hur held up Moses' hand as he grew tired to ensure victory. When Moses built the altar the LORD is my Banner,  He said, "For hands were lifted up to the throne of the LORD. The LORD will be at war against the Amalekites from generation to generation."   We continue to see the impact of Saul's disobedience because the task that he had been given by God was to completely destroy this people.  And yet in the story of Queen Esther we find them still alive. In the book of Esther, Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, is the adversary that plots to kill the entire Jewish race because Mordecai the Jew, would not bow down to him. It is believed that Haman was an Amalekite and a descendant of Agag.  As I've attempted to connect the dots of how costly Saul's disobedience was to the Israelites, I can look more closely to my own life.  More often than not there are lasting consequence of being a rebel.  The Lord our God has never asked us to violate His principles to make an offering to Him. It's like robbing a bank and giving a large tithe and offering from your spoils.  Oddly as it seems,  we are frequently faced with the choice to trust and obey God or to rebel and sacrifice to Him.  We all have an idea of what happens to a rebel.  It's not good.  Regardless to how hard a road and how desperate the situation obedience is always better than sacrifice.