Re:Verse reading–1 Samuel 15 (day one)
I must be very careful to listen to God. He is exact with His words and His expectations.
Poor Saul (foolish, stubborn Saul) thought that obedience to God was an approximate thing. If he did “some” of what God said, it would equal obedience.
“I DID obey the voice of the Lord”, he protested in 1 Samuel 15:20. “I went on the mission, brought back Agag and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.” Even when confronted, he did not recognize or repent the rebellion involved in doing only the part of God’s will that made sense to him.
God does not ask me to agree with Him. He does not allow me to pass His commandments through a filter of my own opinion. He calls me to obey.
I must be very careful to listen to God. Pray without ceasing. Pray for those who persecute you. Rejoice always. In every communication, He means what He says.
“Obedience as opposed to disobedience is a life-and-death issue. God has given humankind the innate power of choice: the choice of obedience leads to God’s promised blessing of life; the choice of disobedience leads to curse, judgment, and death.” (https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/obedience/)
I could not agree more, “He is exact with His words and His expectations.” I was exact with my expectations of my employees. I was clear in my expectations, followed up closely and warned them if I found a deficiency in compliance. As employees, we must follow an order exactly as it is communicated to us.
God is our spiritual leader. When He commands, it is wise to listen to Him attentively in order to understand His directions and instructions so we can follow exactly as He expected. We either comply or not comply. Obedience is about a total compliance, a complete submission to directions or orders.
God set up a model of rewards and punishment. Those obeyed God will be rewarded and those don’t would be cursed or punished. God’s model of obedience or of rewards and punishment has been implemented in all organizations and in life. As employees, we should expect to receive disciplinary actions when we ignore or don’t comply with supervisory directions and instructions. We cannot decide what to obey and what not as employees.
Society will be in chaos if people go their own way, disrespectful of lawful orders or organizational rules and policies. God provided 10 spiritual commandments as His law and we need to attentively listen to Him as to where He wanted for us to focus on or to fix our deficiencies. God gives us the choice: obey or disobey Him. There are rewards for obedience and consequences for disobedience. We need to decide which path of life we want to travel on and where will be our destination. Heaven or Hell?