When Samuel finally found him, Saul greeted him cheerfully. “May the Lord bless you,” he said. “I have carried out the Lord’s command!” “Then what is all the bleating of sheep and goats and the lowing of cattle I hear?” Samuel demanded. “It’s true that the army spared the best of the sheep, goats, and cattle,” Saul admitted. “But they are going to sacrifice them to the Lord your God. We have destroyed everything else.” [1 Samuel 15.13-15]
Obeying God is just that: obeying God. Saul's real character and faith were evident in his lack of obedience. Saul wanted the appearance of obeying God, but was obviously unwilling to submit fully to God, reason or not. At this point in Saul's life, it is difficult to even know if he was telling the truth about intending to offer the best of the spoils of defeating the Amalekites. In fact, the context of the story leaves the impression that Saul kept anything of value and destroyed the worthless stuff. It was only after he was confronted by Samuel that Saul claimed he saved the best as an offering to God.
Then, in verse 24 of 1 Samuel 15, Saul had the perfect opportunity to come clean, but instead, consistent with his partial obedience, Saul only partially repented skirting the full fault for his disobedience by blaming "the people".
The moral of the story I suppose is that partial obedience is seen by God as no obedience at all.
Father, help me to see that partial obedience to You is no different than fully disobeying You.
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