DISCUSSION
As they say, one poor decision often leads to another and such is the case with King Saul. After taking matters into his own hands with the burnt offerings, he now continues his mindset of usurping God’s process and justifying his sin. However, this time it is on a much larger scale. God had instructed Samuel to tell Saul to utterly wipe out the Amalekites because of their mistreatment of the Israelites on their way out of Egypt. Saul, however, had other plans in mind. He thought he could save some of the flocks for future sacrifices and spare the King Agag by keeping him hostage. Saul later reveals that this was the idea of the people and that they had swayed him to keep the choice flocks, when Saul had let the power of being King go to his head. Now, not only would his kingdom not endure, it would be divided and God was going to give the throne to someone else. This was such a big disappointment in the eyes of God that I Samuel 15.35 tells us that “the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel”. Solomon (ironically Saul’s grandson) would later tell us that “pride goes before destruction” (Proverbs 16:18). Pride has a very tempting, yet destructive allure. Let’s all try to remain humble in the sight of the Lord and allow Him to lift us up.
Prayer Requests:_______________________________________________________________