Partial Obedience

Is there such a thing as partial obedience to God? Saul felt so, but it greatly displeased God and Samuel, and cost Saul the kingdom. In 1 Samuel 15, God, through Samuel, gives Saul a direct order. This order was to be followed in every aspect.

God called for a war with Amalek because of the way Amalek had treated the Israelites when they first left Egypt and were crossing the desert on their way to the promise land. Amalek had attacked an unarmed Israel without cause. Now, several hundred years later, God passes judgment on Amalek. His order is to completely erase Amalek from the face of the earth: “Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated” (1 Samuel 15:18b). There was supposed to be nothing left of the Amalekites – no buildings, no people, no animals.

However, Saul only partially obeyed God’s orders. He kept the healthiest of the livestock and he captured Agag the king of Amalek, bringing Agag back to the camp. When Samuel confronts Saul, Saul says,

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 kind of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 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 Gilgl (vs. 20-21).

Samuel laid out the offense Saul committed in verse 22: “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.’” God obviously was not impressed with Saul’s behavior. God saw right through Saul’s act of loving and serving Him. God’s penalty for Saul is found in verse 23 as Samuel relays God’s message to Saul. “Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king.”

The chapter goes on to record more of Saul’s excuses and his false worship of Samuel’s God (Saul keeps saying to Samuel, “your God,” instead of submitting to Him for himself).

Saul’s example challenged me to look at my own life. Am I practicing “partial obedience?” I’d say that partial obedience is not obedience at all. God is not satisfied with His people picking and choosing which parts or phrases of Scripture we are going to do. He wants us to apply everything we know from the Word to our lives. One commentator said that “partial obedience” is actually an oxymoron (“a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction”). I believe making specific, measurable applications from what we read and hear from Scripture is the way to lay aside our partially following Christ and lead changed lives that show just how great God is.