TAKING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

One of the problems that is becoming very prevalent in our society is that of not taking personal responsibility for our actions. When things happen, who can we blame?  We have seen that some of the most horrible crimes imaginable have been committed in many places.  Random acts of murder are becoming common in our society and many times people do not know who to blame.

In the book of First Samuel, we find an incident which happened in the life of King Saul.  This particular happening is recorded in Chapter 15 of this book, where we read of Samuel the prophet going to King Saul and reminding him that at one time the Lord had sent Samuel to anoint him as King of Israel, but now Samuel had come to give certain instructions regarding the Amalekites.  King Saul was told that the instructions from the Lord were for him to go and destroy all of the Amalekites, as well as all of their possessions.  King Saul was to destroy man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep.  The instructions given to King Saul were clear and specific.  However, Saul,
for some reason, did not do as he had been told.  He did destroy all of the Amalekites, but did not kill their king, Agag.  Saul not only disobeyed the Lord’s instructions by sparing King Agag’s life, he also disobeyed by sparing the best of the animals of the Amalekites.  King Saul and his people spared the best of the sheep, oxen, fatlings, and lambs.  It was at this time that the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying that it had repented the Lord that he had set up Saul as king.  The Lord was displeased with King Saul because of his disobedience.  Not only was the Lord displeased, this so grieved Samuel that he cried unto the Lord all night.

What are some of the lessons that we learn from this incident in the life of King Saul?  One of these is that obedience is of great importance in the eyes of God.  When He has commanded us to do certain things in certain ways, He expects us to do just as He has commanded.  The Lord does not want any additions, subtractions, or substitutions.  He means what He says and He says what He means.

But there is also another lesson that we learn from this incident, and that concerns the fact that King Saul was not willing to take personal responsibility for his actions.  When Samuel came to Saul to confront him for his lack of obedience, Saul tried to justify why he had not done as he had been told, rather than taking personal responsibility and admitting that he had done wrong.  One of his supposed justifications for his actions was that the people were to blame for sparing the best of the animals.  His other excuse was that they had spared the best of the animals so that they could sacrifice them unto the Lord.  When Samuel told King Saul that “to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams”, Saul finally admitted that he had transgressed because he feared the people.  Never do we read that King Saul took personal responsibility for his actions.  Let us learn from this incident that if we are ever guilty of doing that which is wrong, we must take personal responsibility for it and try our best to never do that again.

—Selected
Written by Al Macias