1 Samuel 15:22

1 Samuel 15:22

We can hardly read the history of Saul without some feeling of pity. He was no tyrant, who made himself king and ruled the people against their will. On the contrary, he was chosen by God Himself, was anointed by God's prophet, and became king at the express desire of the people. He was a brave and noble man, too; he led the Israelites against their enemies, and, by God's help, was victorious over them. There were, indeed, terrible blots on his character; his persecution of David for mere jealousy was base and wicked cruelty; nevertheless, when we read his sad history, we cannot fail to be moved with pity for one who was so great and so unhappy.

I. The words of the text contain a lesson which Saul had never learned. He served God and appeared zealous in His cause so far as the way of doing this suited his own pleasure and purposes, but whenever self had to be denied and God's will made the rule of action instead of his own, then he rebelled. In fact, Saul never really worshipped God at all, he worshipped self,and he never learned this great truth: that obedience to God is the only thing pleasing in His eyes.

II. Saul stands to us as a type of those who profess to be Christians and act in a measure as Christians, and who, nevertheless, follow their own ways, just as if they were under no Christian vows at all. They have never learnt the great Gospel lesson of obedience, nor seen that obedience to God requires self-denial and discipline of ourselves. Faith and obedience are necessary parts of each other; there can be no obedience without faith, and faith without obedience is dead.

III. We have been received as the soldiersof Christ, and this comparison of a Christian to a soldier will show us very well what our obedience ought to be, for a soldier has no will of his own; his first and principal lesson is that of obedience; whatever service of danger he may be called upon to perform, he has no choice but to obey. This is the kind of obedience we are to yield; not an occasional act, but a constant battle against ourselves and against the evil nature that is in us, and a constant striving to root out all desires and thoughts which are contrary to the will of God.

Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons,1st series, p. 195.

I. All obedience belongs primarily to God. The one Fountain of all good must be the single centre of all service. Thus far obedience is an instinct. The creature owes it to its Creator, the preserved to the Preserver, the family to the one great Parent of us all.

II. The question is not whether we willobey God. God is far too strong and absolute a God for that. Every creature which He has ever made shall and will obey Him. The question is only how we obey, and when. Shall it be a violent compulsion or a voluntary act of filial devotion? The true motive, the essence, of obedience God tells us when He says, "Love is the fulfilling of the law." "If ye love Me, keep My commandments." To love is to obey, and the measure of the obedience is the degree of the affection. That affection is generated only by close contact with the Lord Jesus Christ.

III. Obedience does not consist in isolated acts; it is an atmosphere, it is a necessity, it is the breathing of a new existence, and it is the beginning of immortality.

IV. There is no happiness like the happiness of obedience. Adam was made to rule. The Fall has altered it, and now every man's dignity and every man's joy is in service. Man never fulfils his destiny but when he obeys. Therefore, in His great mercy, God has so placed every one of us, from the greatest to the least, that we have some one over us whom we have to obey. "To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."

J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons,10th series, p. 228.

References: 1 Samuel 15:22. Dawson, Sermons on Daily Life and Duty,p. 286; H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons,vol. iii., p. 390; G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount,p. 118; J. Harrison, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xiv., p. 49; Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xii., No. 686, and Evening by Evening,p. 294; Homiletic Magazine,vol. xv., p. 55; Preacher's Monthly, vol. iv., p. 34; S. Leathes, Truth and Life,p. 115; Homiletic Magazine,vol. xiii., p. 21.