“For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.” 1 Sam 15:23 (KJV)
These are the words the prophet Samuel said to King Saul when Saul decided to do things slightly differently than God commanded. The story is found in 1 Sam 15:1-9. God sent Saul and his army to be an instrument of God’s judgment against a nation that had treated Israel monstrously during a time of Israel’s vulnerability when they were fleeing Egypt. Saul conquered the nation but spared what was judged valuable and destroyed only what was judged worthless by their “good sense”.
God has judged it worthless, Saul did not think so.
God was so repulsed by Saul’s attitude, he took away the kingdom from him, and his spirit and his life went downhill from there.
Sometimes I wonder if through all of the hearing of God’s love, grace, and mercy, we, Christians, have lost the sense of weightiness and the fear of God’s righteousness. Do we really understand the way God judges our stubbornness, presumptuousness, the arrogance of our own common sense?
I am afraid that in our Christian culture, we would tend to judge Saul as the courageous and godly king who listened to his people and applied good common sense to a situation. Sure God said to destroy, BUT … he did not do anything evil by sparing the good parts of the spoil.
We are hearing the same attitude expressed throughout the church repeatedly:
I know God said to work as unto the Lord (Col 3:23) BUT… you don’t know my work, they are using me, they certainly don’t appreciate my effort, no one cares anyway….
I know God said not to neglect meeting together (Heb 10:25) BUT… I can hear better preaching on the internet, I am a better Christian than most people there, it makes no sense…
I know God said to support your pastor/teacher (1 Tim 5:18) BUT… you don’t know my financial situation right now…
I know God said not to slander BUT… people need to know…, it’s better for people that they understand…
I know God said to share with others less fortunate BUT… they will spend it on alcohol anyway….
I know God said to love my spouse BUT… you have no idea what I am dealing with….
I know God said not to date/marry/partner with the unbeliever BUT… they are good people, they might become Christians through my witness…
I know God said I should not move in or sleep with my boyfriend/girlfriend BUT… we love each other, we are not hurting anyone, and we are planning to get married anyway,…
I know God said… BUT … insert your own common sense here
I am afraid our church is filled with the stubbornness of Saul. What is alarming is that we tend to accept these attitudes, the attitudes of arrogant common sense that goes against God’s command and which God has judged so severely, as merely small shortcomings, no one is perfect, he knows my heart, it’s covered under the blood…
Do we realize that the Old Testament blood sacrifice was only for unintentional sin? (Leviticus 4:1) The sacrifice was ordered for all those who have sinned and later realized that they have sinned and have repented and paid restitution to all injured, only then could they come and sacrifice. Do we realize that there is no blanket coverage for our intentional, known stubbornness? (Heb 10:26) Call it a shortcoming, a flaw, a struggle – if you are aware of it and continue in it- it’s not covered under the blood. It’s nowhere in the Bible!
“For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry” – God is essentially saying that if we insist on our own way of good sense, we might as well sacrifice to idols. We might as well leave the entire business of religion altogether and go on our merry way.
If our hope for salvation is in Jesus Christ’s sacrifice – we must repent of the attitude of “I know God said, but…” and surrender all of our good common sense to him! Let’s not tolerate what God has judged!
