Today's Scripture Reading (April 9, 2022): 1 Samuel 15
For many, spirituality seems to exist only in our religious observances. We are Christian because we go to a particular
church once in a while; we are Muslim because we go to Mosque. And that is the
beginning and end of our commitment to God. And many are surprised to discover
that that was never what God wanted from us. The reality in Western culture is
that in a world where most people once claimed to be Christian, we started to build
artificial levels into the belief system. You and I might both say that we are
Christian, but I am more of a Christian because I go to church more than you do
or give more to the local building campaign. But the truth is that our
Christianity is rarely measured by what we do when we attend some kind of religious
observance. The depth of our spirituality is measured by what we do when we are
not in church and how we treat each other outside of our sacred spaces.
To think that our ritual sums up our spirituality is an old trap and one into which Israel's first King fell rather easily. He believed that God
did not care what he did as long as he made the appropriate sacrifices, that the peak of his religious observance was
contained within his religious ritual.
It is thinking that Samuel had to correct, not just
for Saul, but for the nation's health. And so, Samuel tells Saul that his rebellion is
equivalent to the sins of the occult, that in rebelling against God, Saul was
actually actively worshipping false Gods. Saul's actions were the same as if he had set up idols in
his home and had begun to worship them. As Samuel watched Saul, it became
apparent that the King's actions meant that he was no different from the Amalekites
that he had just defeated.
Because Saul had rejected the word of God, God had no
choice but to reject him as King of the nation. The reign of Saul the King had
come to an end. Oh, Saul would continue to reign as king for a few more years,
but the decision of God to raise up a new king had already been accomplished.
God could not have a King lead his people who refused to hear his voice and
listen to his words.
Nineteenth-century theologians Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz
Delitzsch argued that "All
conscious disobedience is actually idolatry, because it makes self-will, the
human I, into a god." In his actions following Israel's defeat of the
Amalekites, Saul had made himself the God of Israel. In doing so, he had set
himself up in competition with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was a
competition doomed to failure, a battle that Saul wasn't going to win.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Samuel 16
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