Which Way is North? (1 Samuel 15:22-23)
All of us have probably been lost at one time or another. If you get lost when you are in the woods, you can use a compass to help you find your way. A compass, as you know, operates on the scientific basis that the core of the earth sends out a magnetic signal. We are able to line up an arrow based on that magnetic signal so that our arrow always points north.
Yet, you may not know that there is a “magnetic” north and a “true” north. “Magnetic” north is what we normally think about as “north.” It is the direction a needle points as it lines up with the magnetic field from the core of the earth. But, that magnetic field changes depending on your position of the earth and it changes over time. So we also have “true” north, which is the direction along a north-south direction [meridian] that moves toward the geographic north.
Let us examine someone who offered worship to God, but since it wasn’t in accordance with God’s will – the “true” north – it was rejected. That man is King Saul (1 Samuel 15).
The Command:
God’s command to Saul was to “destroy all:” Man, woman, infant, nursing child; ox, sheep, camel, donkey (verses 1-2).
Partial obedience:
Saul separates the Kenites from the Amalekites – 15:6, 7. These were members of Moses’ father-in-law and had helped Israel during their wilderness travels. But he also spared alive the king and the “best of the sheep, oxen, fatlings, lambs, and all that was good.” The middle of verse 9 emphasizes that what Saul had done was still not obedience – he was “not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.” So even in Saul’s “obedience,” he still disobeyed as he was the one who decided what was “despised” and what was worth saving.
Disobedience:
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Sincerity is necessary: Joshua 24:14 – “Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve Him in sincerity and truth…” Paul also tells Christians in 1 Corinthians 5:8 – [perhaps speaking of the Lord’s Supper] – “Therefore let us celebrate the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
But sincerity itself is not sufficient… (it’s not “true” north). Samuel reminds Saul of the past – 15:17 and how God had sent Saul on a mission – 15:18. But, Saul disobeyed – 15:19. Saul hasn’t learned yet that obedience is: Doing what God says do, the way God says do it, for the reason God says do it.
Take a close look at 15:22-23 and observe that obedience is better than worship.
So, “true north” is obeying Christ as closely as we can. That is faith. That is trust. That is humility. That is godliness.
–Paul Holland
Veritas non verba
