the biggest thing that struck me was the fact that from the very start, Saul had good intentions. he chose to not kill the sheep and cattle because he wanted to save them to be sacrificed for God. even though he knew that he was supposed to "totally destroy everything that belongs to [the Amalekites]," he turned a blatant and direct command into something he thought would make God happy. simply put, he took matters into his own hands.
i guess the application here is to know that when God tells me to do something, he means every part of it. even if there's something i think could be tweaked or made better...i'm most likely wrong haha. He knows best, who are we to show Him otherwise and tell him we don't think so?
what's more is that Saul was proud of what he had done, and was completely unaware of any wrongdoings on his part.
"When Samuel reached him, Saul said, "The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord's instructions." (v. 13)this was definitely a wake-up call. how often do i think i'm doing something that pleases God, but is actually going completely against what he asked? and to see that what most people would call a small mistake on Saul's part to be something that caused God to be "grieved" (v. 11) and even regret choosing Saul to be king in the first place is mind-boggling. i wonder how often he says that about me. it really puts the notion of "God's grace" into perspective (or at least, a different perspective).
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