How could a good thing ever be bad?   When it’s not the RIGHT thing.

There is a difference between what is good and what is RIGHT.  Something can be a good thing, but not always necessarily the right thing. Just because something is good, doesn’t mean that it is right.

That is a lesson we can learn from Saul, the first human king of Israel.  I Samuel 15 tells us that Saul was instructed by the Lord through the prophet Samuel to attack the Amalekites and completely destroy them and all that they had.   Nothing was to be spared. Everything from men, women, children, infants, livestock and material possessions were to be utterly destroyed.

The instruction was simple, yet Saul disregarded the words of God through his own reasoning.  He obeyed most of what the Lord had instructed – but it was what he did not do by which he was judged.

Saul and his troops did attack the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt, and destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.  However, verse nine says – “But Saul and the people spared Agag the king and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and ALL THAT WAS GOOD, and WERE UNWILLING TO UTTERLY DESTROY THEM. But everything despised and worthless, THAT they utterly destroyed.”

Do you see anything wrong with this picture?!

How can we alter the Words of God and think that there is nothing wrong with it?  Yet how often have we done just that.?!   To ever allow our own reasoning to take precedence over what God has said, is nothing but pride and unbelief, and leads nowhere but failure.   It is as though we are thinking – God must have really meant THIS – as if to say – God must have made a mistake, so I’ll just change it to how it should be.

Though it may never be verbalized, this is precisely what occurs when mere reasoning takes over our resolve to just simply obey.  God’s Words are never to be added to or taken away from – no matter our reasoning. (Deut. 4.2/ 12.32/ Prov. 30.6)

After Saul’s seemingly insignificant shortfall, the word of the Lord came to Samuel saying – “I GREATLY REGRET that I have set up Saul as king, FOR HE HAS TURNED ASIDE FROM FOLLOWING ME, AND HAS NOT PERFORMED MY COMMANDMENTS.”  – I Samuel 15.11

There was a definite reason God had for the Amalekites, and all that they had, to be completely destroyed.  Amalek had attacked Israel when they were coming out of  Egypt, and though Israel prevailed, God promised that He would completely destroy Amalek so that not even a trace would be left. (Ex. 17.8-16/ Deut. 25.17-19)

Saul and his army were God’s chosen instruments to fulfill this ancient promise – but instead of wholeheartedly following after what the Lord had said, they followed after their own instincts and reasonings, and thereby not only failed God, but also missed out on the glorious rewards of fulfilling such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Saul claimed to have saved all the best stuff in order to sacrifice it to the Lord. And perhaps he sincerely thought that would be a good thing.

But even a good thing is never a substitute for obeying the voice of the Lord!

At Saul’s jubilant report, Samuel replied – What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your OBEDIENCE TO HIS VOICE?   OBEDIENCE IS FAR BETTER THAN SACRIFICE. Listening to Him is much better than offering the fat of rams. Rebellion is as bad as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as bad as worshipping idols. So because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has rejected you from being king.   (I Samuel 15.22-23 NLT)

There is a difference between what is good and what is right – and that difference is OBEDIENCE.

Thank God for the Blood of Jesus and for His mercy.   Because of the Cross and because of Jesus we do not have to carry such awful punishment for our disobedience as Saul did for his.  Nevertheless, God’s mercy is by no means a license to take this subject of obedience any less seriously.

Yes, there is mercy and forgiveness for us when we miss it – but we are still held highly responsible to walk in obedience to the voice of the Lord.  Of all the good things you could think of to do for the Lord, if you have not first obeyed what He’s asked you to do – your good will actually be bad.

A good thing apart from the right thing is a wrong thing. 

If your heart craves to bless the heart of God and give Him the very best – then give Him your obedience.

Obedience is the greatest gift you could ever give Him – following His voice at all times is what counts most.

Obedience is better than sacrifice.  And I’ve found many times that obedience itself is a sacrifice.  Often it really is a sacrifice to obey what the Lord has said – but  it  is a sacrifice that is well worth it. Because what God requires always leads to the best, and our obedience to it is what pleases and blesses His heart.

To obey what He has said is the greatest expression of our absolute trust in Him.  When we trust Him fully, we will obey and follow Him without question – because our childlike confidence in Him as a loving, faithful Father is unblemished and untainted by doubt or fear.

That trust comes only from constantly meditating on the love, faithfulness, and goodness of God towards you.

His only intention is for your absolute wholeness, and His eternal commitment is to fulfill that wholeness in your life.  He only requires your obedience.

God is GOOD, and as ones created in His image, our lives also should portray His goodness.  Yet goodness alone is not sufficient.  Our primary pursuit must be obedience to the voice of the Lord.  When that is at the top of your priority list, then you will also be doing good things – because His ways are good.

When you follow God, Psalm 23.3 says that He will lead you in RIGHT PATHS.  Jesus said that we are to seek, aim at and strive after first of all His kingdom and His righteousness – His way of doing and being RIGHT.  (Matt. 6.33 AMP)

Our first pursuit must be what He establishes as RIGHT.  Not only what He has declared right in His written Word, but also what He declares as right for each and every situation we find ourselves in.  We have to remain in position to hear the things He is speaking to our spirit and then be obedient to those directions.

Obedience to what is right is not always easy.  Sometimes it requires completely relinquishing your own will or what your own mind and reasoning may be telling you, in order to yield fully to what the Spirit of God is saying.

To the natural mind, it didn’t make since to destroy everything the Amalekites had – Why destroy all the good things along with the bad when they could be very useful in the work of the Lord?

I Corinthians 2.14 tells us that the natural, carnal mind cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him – nor can he understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.  We have to shut down the voice of our mind so that we can clearly hear and obey what the voice of God is communicating to our spirit.

Obedience to God may not always be easy – but it is always right.

The most intense offering of obedience ever fulfilled by a human, was when Jesus yielded Himself to die in our place. Gethsemane was the point of decision.  Deeply distressed in spirit, He fell on His face and cried – O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me… and yet in the very same breath He prayed – Nevertheless, not My will but YOURS BE DONE.  

Never do we see it recorded that there was ever a conflict between Jesus’ will and the will of the Father except here.   The conflict between soul and spirit within Jesus was so intense, the mental pressure so concentrated, that blood began oozing through His pores.   Hebrews 12.4 says that we have not yet resisted to that kind of pressure to the point of bloodshed, striving against sin.

Even in that most intense of situations – Jesus chose what was RIGHT – He yielded over His will completely to the Father, offering perfect obedience to His Will. He laid down His life, He paid the price – not only for us to have eternal life – but also that we be able to choose God’s Will over our own and do what is RIGHT – just as He did.

He sowed His obedience, so that we too, would be empowered to OBEY.

Whatever God says to you, do it.   Offer to Him the sacrifice of your obedience.

Then what you do will not only be what is good –  but it will also be what is RIGHT. 

Copyright © March 2007

Sharah LaGail Wyatt/ First Love Ministries International

P O Box 163974  Ft Worth, TX 76161   / www.ps27fr.org