1 Samuel 15:10

1 Samuel 15:10 says,  Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying,  Verse eleven adds, It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night.  Saul may have been the king that the people of Israel demanded that Samuel appoint, and he may have been chosen by God, but God still spoke through Samuel.  Also, just because God chose Saul, it didn't mean that Saul chose God.  God has chosen to save everyone who will put their faith in Jesus Christ, but not everyone chooses to do so.  As followers of Christ, God has a purpose for us, but not everyone will choose to follow His purpose.  Samuel cried out to God all night because he was grieved by the situation.  How long has it been since we as the church today have called out to God all night because we are grieved by the state the world is in today?  Verse twelve continues, And when Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul came to Carmel, and, behold, he set him up a place, and is gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal. When Samuel went o speak to Saul the next morning, he was told that Saul had set up a monument to his victory, not to God’s, and had gone to Gilgal in a triumphant display of his power.  We should never expect, or even want, people to honor us for what God has done.  Verse thirteen states, And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the LORD: I have performed the commandment of the LORD.  When Samuel came to Saul, Saul was bragging about what he had done, instead of repenting for his sin in attempting to take on the duties of a priest.  We still have people today who want to take the glory of what God has done for themselves.  Verse fourteen adds, And Samuel said, What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?  Samuel then asked Saul if he had kept the commandment of the LORD, then why did he hear sheep bleating and oxen lowing, since God’s commandment had been to destroy them all.  We cannot put material things in the way of our doing what God has called us to do.  Verse fifteen continues, And Saul said, They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.  Saul justified their actions by saying that they had saved the best of the sheep and oxen to offer as a sacrifice to God.  We can never justify disobeying God by saying we did so to honor Him.  Verse sixteen declares, Then Samuel said unto Saul, Stay, and I will tell thee what the LORD hath said to me this night. And he said unto him, Say on.  Samuel then told Saul to stay and he would tell him what God had told him that night.  Ultimately, this is all we as Christians can do.  We can only tell people the truth of God if we are to be spiritually faithful.  Verse seventeen adds, And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?  Samuel reminded Saul that before he was anointed king of Israel  that in his own sight he was but a little person in Israel.  He was still humble at that time.  No matter our status in life, until we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we are but a little person, and after we accept Him, we should not become puffed up in our own importance.  Verse eighteen continues, And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed.  Samuel then reminded Saul of what God had sent him to do with the Amalekites, and that was to utterly destroy them.  We cannot alter God's commandments to suit our purpose, even by partially keeping them.  Verse nineteen asks, Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?  Samuel then asked Saul, who was celebrating his victory, why he hadn't done as God had commed him to do.  We may have people who are professing to have done great things for God who are doing it for their own glory.  Verse twenty adds, And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.  Saul then tried to claim that he had done what God had said do, but that never included taking the king of the Amalekites prisoner.  All of them were to be totally destroyed.  We today cannot take credit nor expect to be rewarded for partially obeying God's commandments.  Verse twenty-one continues, But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.  Saul, the king, the leader of the people of Israel, then said it was the people who took of the best of the sheep and oxen to be used as sacrifices to God, Whom he again referred to as Samuel's God, and not his God.  We cannot pass the responsibility for obeying God's word off to others.  We are all individually responsible for keeping all of God's commandments if we are indeed one of His people.