Obedience & Submission

Saul has good intentions, or at least one can make the assumption that he does. He says he wanted to save the best of the things (sheep, spoil, oxen, etc.) and sacrifice it to God. The problem is that in the verse 3 of this chapter, God says through Samuel to "destroy all that belongs to them." I'm not exactly sure what Saul's line of reasoning was by not obeying what God had told him to do. He may have gotten to that point of destroying everything and thought it was a waste. He may have justified not doing it by saying these things could be used for better purposes, such as burnt offerings. He may have wanted to do what God said but became afraid of what his soldiers would think. But whatever the reasoning was, the bottom line is Saul didn't obey what God had told him to do.

I think a large part of obedience is about submission. Sure, you could begrudgingly obey somebody, grumbling and having a discontent heart the whole time, but if you're really obeying, you're submitting to the idea that what this person says is good and right even if you may have different thoughts or ideas. Getting to a place of true obedience, and therefore true submission, can be very difficult. We often want to be the one in control, be recognized in some way or form or may simply think our ways or ideas are the best ones. Of course, when it comes to God, we know that's simply not true (Isaiah 55:8-9).

I think for myself, there are times when I find myself in that place of "partial obedience," which, as P. Yohann says, is not obedience at all. Much of the time, this comes from fear and a lack of trust in what the Lord has said. While I may want to obey, I see the winds and waves around me and, as fear begins to fill my heart, it becomes easier to go to a certain point and say that's enough or want to take the reigns myself. But again, I believe that true obedience is complete surrender and while that can be very difficult, we know from the Word that our God is faithful, helping us in our need and working for the good of those who love him. I pray that I will continue to grow in obedience and submission to God as I am constantly reminded of His never-ending and never-changing love and faithfulness. Lord, help me to trust you more and learn to submit all the different areas of my life.