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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
reserved the best and spared the wicked king. The next day he met the
prophet Samuel with flattering self-congratulations. Said he: “Blessed
be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”
But the prophet immediately answered: “What meaneth then this
bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I
hear?”
Saul was confused and sought to shirk responsibility by answering:
“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.” Samuel then reproved
the king, reminding him of the explicit command of God directing
him to destroy all things belonging to Amalek. He pointed out his
transgression and declared that he had disobeyed the Lord. But Saul
refused to acknowledge that he had done wrong; he again excused his
sin by pleading that he had reserved the best cattle to sacrifice unto the
Lord.
Samuel was grieved to the heart by the persistency with which the
king refused to see and confess his sin. He sorrowfully asked: “Hath
the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying
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the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to
hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected
the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king.”
We should not look in the face of duty and delay meeting its
demands. Such delay gives time for doubts; unbelief creeps in, the
judgment is perverted, the understanding darkened. At length the
reproofs of God’s Spirit do not reach the heart of the deluded person,
who has become so blinded as to think that they cannot possibly be
intended for him or apply to his case.
The precious time of probation is passing, and few realize that it
is given them for the purpose of preparing for eternity. The golden
hours are squandered in worldly pursuits, in pleasure, in absolute sin.
God’s law is slighted and forgotten, yet every statute is nonetheless
binding. Every transgression will bring its punishment. Love of
worldly gain leads to desecration of the Sabbath, yet the claims of
that holy day are not abrogated or lessened. God’s command is clear
and unquestionable on this point; He has peremptorily forbidden us to