Today, we hear the continuing story from the first book of Samuel that we've been hearing for over a week. Today, we hear Samuel confront Israel's King Saul for having disobeyed God's orders in attacking the Amalekites. If we remember, it was Samuel who was guided by God to pick Saul in the first place as the King of Ancient Israel. According to God’s command, Saul was to utterly destroy the Amalekites, not sparing anything, but Saul and his men took King Agag hostage and saved the best of the spoils for themselves, including sheep and cattle. Saul used the excuse that they wanted to use the best animals to make a sacrifice to the Lord, rationalizing that they had a good reason to disobey the Lord's orders. Their reasoning does not make a lot of sense – disobeying the Lord in order to give offerings to the Lord - but this is how Saul explains their actions. Samuel tells Saul that his actions show that he has rejected God, so God, in turn, will reject Saul as king.
In some ways, in reflecting upon today's reading from the first book of Samuel, we might be felt to examine our own hearts, to look at ways that we have disobeyed not only God's commandments, but also at the ways we have rejected God’s will for us. We may think of many reasons to justify our actions, but we need to ask ourselves if we are blindly disobeying God in our lives and not listening to what he is calling us to do. As disciples of Christ, God holds us accountable when we directly disobey him. We are never going to be perfect, but we are called to strive toward perfection. On our journey of faith, we are called to practice virtue in our lives, to grow in the cultivation of holiness, and to try to live the faith that we profess. May we thank God for the many blessings he has given us in our lives. May we look for ways to discern the will of God for us. May we pray for the courage to implement his will.
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