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David Reading | Week 1 | Day 5

Prayer

As you come to spend time with Jesus, calm your mind and body until you feel fully present. Thank Jesus that he came to save you!

Bible Reading: 1 Samuel 15

Read these verses three times slowly.

Samuel said to Saul, “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over his people Israel; so listen now to the message from the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim—two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand from Judah. Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine. Then he said to the Kenites, “Go away, leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them; for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites.

Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, near the eastern border of Egypt. He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword. 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.

Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.

Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”

When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”

But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”

Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”

“Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lordsaid to me last night.”

“Tell me,” Saul replied.

Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lordanointed you king over Israel. And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?”

“But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”

But Samuel replied:

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
he has rejected you as king.”

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. Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord.”

But Samuel said to him, “I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel!”

As Samuel turned to leave, Saul caught hold of the hem of his robe, and it tore. Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to one of your neighbors—to one better than you. He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind.”

Saul replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.” So Samuel went back with Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.

Then Samuel said, “Bring me Agag king of the Amalekites.”

Agag came to him in chains. And he thought, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.”

But Samuel said,

“As your sword has made women childless,
so will your mother be childless among women.”

And Samuel put Agag to death before the Lord at Gilgal.

Then Samuel left for Ramah, but Saul went up to his home in Gibeah of Saul. Until the day Samuel died, he did not go to see Saul again, though Samuel mourned for him. And the Lordregretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

Reflection & Questions

INSTANT REGRET! We often think this is a human problem, but here God clearly states that he regrets assigning David king over Israel. While there are many challenges theologically that this might bring to our minds, lets try and push that aside for a second and think about this. Who is the last person you want to disappoint? Who is the last person that you want to let down? Maybe it’s your boss, a parent, a co-worker, your significant other. Whoever it is, when we hear the words, “I regret knowing you, working with you, being married to you,” It cuts to the core of who we are. It says, what once was an enthusiastic beginning now is wished to never have happened. The last person we ever really want to disappoint is God.

And, how does instant regret happen? It happens when we don’t meet the expectations of our most fundamental commitments in a relationship. For Saul, he didn’t follow through on the most basic of fundamental commitments that God had for Him. To obey his commands. Not only that but to obey his commands in a way that would keep Him and the Israelite people safe and secure against a powerful adversary. Saul’s fall and loss of his kingdom can point back to one moment of a lack of obedience.

Today there are so many temptations that we can face that lead us to instant regret. Flirting with the coworker that leads to an affair. Stretching the truth on our taxes, leading us to owe tens of thousands. Lying about being clean, only be found out by our family. There are so many moments where the expectations we have set before our relationships fall short and we feel INSTANT REGRET. But thanks to God, who forgives us, remakes us, and moves us in a direction of greater holiness. Sometimes those moments of being found out is not a curse, but a blessing for us to start over with people showing them who we really are.

1. Is there an area of life that you are living with regret about?
2. Is there an area of your life that if people found out about it, you would say, OH no Instant regret?
3. How can you trust God and best be freed from that feeling?

Prayer

Talk to God in response to the reading today.

Worship Song

You might use this song today to worship Jesus today:

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