It just didn’t make sense, at least not to Saul. After all, in those days, livestock was one of the principal forms of wealth. So, God asking Saul to kill all of the Amalekites’ livestock would be like God telling us to gather a pile of money and burn it.

And so, Saul made a few alterations in God’s plan. Saul allowed his people to bring the best of the animals back to camp and offer them to God. For you see, according to the Law of Moses, when someone brought such an animal as a sacrifice, not in order to atone for a particular sin, but simply because of his thankfulness for blessings received, the worshipper was allowed to roast and eat a large portion of the animal.

And so, under Saul’s plan, the people were still putting all the animals to death – it’s just that they would have a big barbecue with the best ones. Saul’s army would get paid, and all that good meat wouldn’t go to waste. That’s why verse 9 says that Saul and the people were unwilling to destroy utterly everything the Amalekites had. Saving the best of the animals for a sacrificial feast made sense to Saul, and doubtless to all of Saul’s army.

But it didn’t make any sense to Samuel because it didn’t make any sense to God. For God had commanded Saul utterly to destroy all the Amalekites and everything that they had (verse 3). So, no matter how much sense the big barbecue made to Saul and to his soldiers, it was just plain wrong. And it was wrong simply because it wasn’t what God wanted Saul to do.

And the same thing is true of so many of our sins, isn’t it? Does it make sense to fight against lust when the entire culture is encouraging us to give in to it? Does it make sense to take a whole day off every week, when we have all sorts of pressing business to accomplish? Does it make sense to love our enemies, to forgive those who hurt us? Does it really make sense for us to trust God when everything in our lives seems to be going wrong at the same time?

But that’s exactly why faith in God matters so much. God knows that we are sinners. God knows that much of what He asks us goes against the grain of our sinful nature, and conflicts with our sin-twisted reasoning. But when we do what God wants instead of what we want – that’s when God knows that we really trust Him. That’s when God knows that we really love Him.

And didn’t Jesus put that sort of trust in His Father? For when Jesus was praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, He said what Saul never could say. Jesus insisted that instead of getting His own way, instead of doing what pleased Him, He wanted God’s Will to be done in His life. Jesus said that He would obey the Father, even if such obedience meant the painful and shameful death of the cross.

And so, whenever we are faced with the choice of doing what we want or doing what God wants, let’s trust the One Who has given so much to us, the One Who has sacrificed so much for us. Let’s trust Him to know what’s best for us, and let’s obey His Word – even if it doesn’t seem to make sense.

I Samuel 15:1-31 (NASB)

Then Samuel said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of the LORD.
2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt.
3 ‘Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'”
4 Then Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, 200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah.
5 And Saul came to the city of Amalek, and set an ambush in the valley.
6 And Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them; for you showed kindness to all the sons of Israel when they came up from Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
7 So Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is east of Egypt.
8 And he captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
10 Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying,
11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not carried out My commands.” And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all night.
12 And Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul; and it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, then turned and proceeded on down to Gilgal.”
13 And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the LORD! I have carried out the command of the LORD.”
14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”
15 And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed.”
16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Wait, and let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night.” And he said to him, “Speak!”
17 And Samuel said, “Is it not true, though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the LORD anointed you king over Israel,
18 and the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated.’
19 “Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD, but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD?”
20 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I did obey the voice of the LORD, and went on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
21 “But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”
22 And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices As in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, And to heed than the fat of rams.
23 “For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He has also rejected you from being king.”
24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned; I have indeed transgressed the command of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice.
25 “Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me, that I may worship the LORD.”
26 But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you; for you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
27 And as Samuel turned to go, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore.
28 So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you.
29 “And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”
30 Then he said, “I have sinned; but please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and go back with me, that I may worship the LORD your God.”
31 So Samuel went back following Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.