You have to feel sorry for Saul. He didn’t look to become king and he was doing the best he knew how. The problem was that he gave what he felt comfortable giving instead of giving what God wanted from him. Saul answered Samuel: “I did indeed obey the LORD and fulfill the mission on which the LORD sent me.” This is a common human trait. I’m thinking of parents who work extra jobs so they can buy fancy presents for their children when actually the gift the children would prefer to have is their presence, not the presents. In all of our relationships, both with God and with other people, the challenge is to become sensitive to what the other is wanting instead of presuming that we know best. The old proverb of “walking in the mocassins of another” bears a foundational spiritual truth. The constant tempation is to see things from our own perspective instead of the point of view of the others. As Saul found to his detriment, when we miss what God wants of us disaster can follow.
