Quick Note – 1 Samuel 15 – Partial Obedience is Complete Disobedience

1 Samuel 15:10-11, 13-14, 18-19 – The word of the LORD came to Samuel:  “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.”  And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the LORD all night…And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the LORD.  I have performed the commandment of the LORD.”  And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?”…And the LORD sent you on a mission and said, “God, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.”  Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD?  Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?

In high school and college, we would sometimes fill out a test question or homework assignment partially.  We knew that we couldn’t get full credit, because we didn’t finish the work to completion, but we hoped that the small amount of partial credit we would get could push us over the edge into the higher letter grade.  Partial work was enough work.  There was no need to put in more effort if the return was so small.  We could get away with this in school; however, it became harder to escape the consequences of half-hearted work as we grew older.  Doing half the dishes still left a stack of them in the sink and caused problems with the roommates or spouse.  Only mowing the front lawn where people could see still left a jungle in the backyard.  Half the work was no longer going to cut it. 

Imagine if you only did half the laundry.  You would wash the clothes but never dry them.  Wouldn’t that just leave a musty pile of wet rags?  Imagine if you were working at an airplane factory and only tightened the bolts halfway.  Wouldn’t that make the plane unable to fly?  Imagine if you turned in an article to a newspaper and only wrote half of it.  Wouldn’t it be unable to publish?  Partial work is truly not enough.  So why do we think that with God, we can give partial obedience? 

The verses shared with you today are excerpts from 1 Samuel 15, which describes King Saul’s disobedience to the LORD.  God commanded Saul to destroy the Amalekites.  He was supposed to wipe them out completely – everyone from male to female and everything from sheep to oxen.  Nothing was supposed to be left behind.  This was God’s punishment to the Amalekites, because they attacked Israel when they were wandering in the wilderness.  Saul then went out to battle the Amalekites; however, after he defeated them, rather than devoting everything to complete destruction as God had said, he and his men spared the king as well as all the sheep and oxen that were of “good quality.”  They used the excuse that they wanted to sacrifice the good things to the LORD to justify their partial obedience.  God seeing Saul’s partial obedience as complete disobedience was angered and told Samuel the prophet that He regretted making Saul king and would replace him.  Samuel decided to confront Saul about his sin, but instead of, repenting King Saul gladly stated, “I have performed the commandment of the LORD.”  Even after Samuel mentioned how he did not destroy all of the spoils, Saul still clung to the idea that his partial obedience was enough and said, “I have obeyed the voice of the LORD.  I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me.”  He did not realize that partial obedience was complete disobedience to God.  Saul was then rejected by God. 

We must realize that partial obedience is complete disobedience.  God does not want half of our hearts.  When we are commanded to do something for Him, we must do it with all that we have.  We must work everything to completion.  We cannot pick and choose what we want to follow and to obey, but we must do what He has commanded from start to finish.  There is no half-credit.  There is no good enough.  God wants us to give our all.  God wants our complete obedience.