05/17/2026
Contextual Differences: Right in Theory, Wrong in Practice, NKJV
I Samuel 15: 17-24:
17 So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? 18 Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroyed the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?” 20 And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord, your God in Gilga.” 22 so Samuel said: ‘”Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, As in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed, than the fat of Rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king.” 24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.”
Main Points
Point # 1
Exercising our plans in the face of Gods direction will cancel out the purpose He has for our lives:
Point #2
Focus on the big picture without regard to the details is an active rebellion in the eyes of the Lord:
Point #3.
The end does not always justify the means
Supplemental Scriptures
Numbers chapter 20; Leviticus chapter 10; II Samuel chapter 6; I Chronicles chapter 13; I Samuel chapter 13; Will also refer back to:
I Samuel 15:3 now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”
I Samuel 15:9 Saul and the people spared Agag 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.
I Samuel 15:31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshipped the Lord.