What Yahweh Has Rejected

Read I Samuel 15

The Amalekites had greatly offended Yah and He gave Saul a charge to remove them. . . completely. [Now before you question me on the severity and drastic nature of this instruction, let me hasten to say, I too wrestle with it, and I don't have the answer. . . yet.]

Saul didn't do all that God said. Verse 9 said that Saul and the people spared the king, kept the best of the loot and were unwilling to destroy them. Samuel went to meet Saul after Yahweh told the seer what Saul had done. Before the prophet could say anything to the king, the guilty liar said, "I have performed the commandment of the LORD" (v. 13).

When Samuel confronted him, he blamed the people (vv. 15, 21) and kept insisting that he had gone on the LORD's mission and done what He commanded (vv. 20), even though it was a blatant lie.

However, the part that I really want to draw to your attention, at this time, is where he kept insisting that they had spared the best in order to sacrifice to Samuel's God (vv. 15, 21), as though to butter up the prophet.

They saved the best of what God had rejected, to give to the Almighty.

Listen! It does not matter how sweet-smelling, how beautiful, or how awe-inspiring something is: if Yahweh says He does not want it, there's nothing you or I can do to it to make it acceptable. This is true whether it our false worship, our wrong relationships, our pretentious attitudes, our world-designed music and dance, our latest fashion, our fancy church buildings, our unclean monies, or our favourite child or preacher. Funnily, even things that He gave to Israel He refused, after they had contaminated them with their abominations (see Isaiah 1:7-17).

The truth is, we cannot force God to accept what we choose to give Him. We must give Him what He requires of us. God sets apart people, places, days and things for Himself (I Kings 8:16; Psalm 4:3; II Chron. 7:12; Gen. 2:1-3; Exo. 20:10-11; I Cor. 1:26-29; Mat. 1:21; Acts 4:12) and our choosing what we want to give to Him does not sit well with Him. In fact, He rejects it, no matter how well we dress it up or rationalise it.

Let us determine that today, and every day hence, we will seek to give Yahweh Elohim, what He requires from us and not what we feel like giving Him, no matter how appealing it appears to our senses.

Yah bless!

D. L. N. (June 13, 2020)