Have you ever been to restaurant where they have a display of desserts on what they affectionately call a dessert cart? So you ask your waiter what they would recommend or what is the "popular" choice and they give you their recommendations but instead, you pick a dessert by the way it looked, by the way it appealed to one more of your senses. Whether it be the sense of sight or even smell, only to bite into it and find that you made the wrong choice- it was disgusting?!
All of us at one time or another have been guilty of choosing something based on its appeal; if we are lucky its turns out in our favor however, the latter may leave us in disappointment, regret, or something much greater. This was the case for Saul in 1 Samuel 15 (NIV) highlighting verses 9 and 24. I will be paraphrasing here so go with me (you can find the full story in 1 Samuel 15, again, I encourage you to read it for yourself). Samuel delivers a message laced with instruction to Saul from the Lord. Samuel tells Saul that The Lord is settling accounts with the Amalek nation for opposing Israel and that Saul must "now go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation—men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys.” v.3 At the beginning of verse 4 it looks like Saul is going to do what is asked of him but, it is not until we get to verse 9 that we see he steers off course, it’s in the slightest way yet ends up costing him in a major way. Verse 9 starts off in this way, “9 But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.”
From there, we see the product of Saul’s actions; from The Lord regretting his decision of making Saul King, Samuel going to see about Saul, and the "why" behind Saul’s decision to disobey God. We find his “reasoning” in verse 24. 24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them.”
This is where we will park, get out, and, assess the scripture.
Ok, did you catch that? God said completely and Saul did partially. Saul’s decision to operate in partially rested in appeal and the recommendation of others. In verse 9 we see that Saul spared the best of everything but the destroyed the despised and the weak relative to his standards. The Appeal persuaded Saul to operate in a manner which suited him causing him to make decisions that where outside of the instruction of The Lord. *The Lord revealed to me that there are many people that are using appeal as the barometer of their obedience.* - What is appealing to you? Does it align with God's best for you? -What instruction(s) from The Lord are you tailoring to fit the narrative of your situations? -What decision is appealing to your senses but alters your purpose? Be advised that not everything The Lord asks you to do will be appealing to you. But it is an instruction that needs to be followed. God does not want you to alter his word, he wants you to obey it. Altering even the smallest of details could have major consequences. Verse 24 places a spotlight on Saul’s motive behind his disobedience and he says that it was because of his fear of men that he violated The Lord’s command. In today’s terms this may be classified as "people pleasing" or "going with the crowd".
The interesting thing about people pleasing, when you become the person doing the pleasing, more often times than not, you may be left feeling depleted and unfulfilled because of what you are doing to please someone else does not align with who you are at the core. In turn, the person that you were trying to please continues to inflict unobtainable expectations, deeming your actions menial on their scale (of unrealistic expectations), and continue to want and expect more with you always bending and molding right on out of your morals, values, and identity of who God says you are and right into the box they categorize and make assumptions about you in.
Saul’s inability to throw out his own plan cost him the plan of God, which eventually led to The Lord calling on someone else to do what he intended for Saul to do (keep reading into 1 Samuel 16).
-What instruction(s) from the Lord have you traded at the recommendation of man?
-What are you unwilling to do for the Lord that God will literally have to assign someone else to your territory to complete the task?
-Leaders lead from the front, if you are called to lead do not cower to the crowd.
-God would much rather you obey his instruction than forfeit his promise.
Y’all, God loves us and wants the best for us! His instructions come with a promise and provision attached. Let’s not waste any more time submitting to our own appeal or the recommendation of those around us, especially if it does not align with His instructions.
You got this!
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