Half Steppin

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Have you ever wondered where the saying “to obey is better than sacrifice” comes from?  Yes, you can find the scripture in 1 Samuel 15:22, but do you understand its meaning and why it was said?

This blog has a couple of twists and turns, so hang on.

To understand the true meaning of that scripture, you need to look at the results and consequences of the lack of not obeying God.  Two stories in the Bible are connected in principle, which will explain why.

1 Samuel chapter 15 starts with the story of King Saul, Israel’s first King, who defeated the Amalekites (the people of Amalek).  God used His prophet Samuel to give specific instructions to King Saul.

1 Samuel 15:1-3 (NLT), “One day Samuel said to Saul, “It was the Lord who told me to anoint you as King of his people, Israel. Now listen to this message from the Lord! This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has declared: I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of Amalek for opposing Israel when they came from Egypt. Now go and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation—men, women, children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and donkeys.”

Those who know the story remember that King Saul didn’t follow God’s instructions strictly.  He did a couple of things on his own.

1 Samuel 15:7-9 (NKJV) “And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. He also took Agag King of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.”

King Saul decided to keep things that he thought were good.  Come on, if you were living off the land and you were battling your enemies, the way to build your strength is to acquire the best of their resources.  It would be wasteful to kill off all the good cattle.  A book called “The Art of War” (by Sun Tzu) advises taking an enemy’s country intact instead of completely destroying it to maximize resources.  This advice has been a strategic mindset for centuries.  But in this case, God commanded King Saul to kill everyone and the King of Amalek.  Unfortunately, King Saul Half Stepped and did only part of what God told him to do.  The sad part is that King Saul thought he was doing something good for the people of Israel.

Now for the other story.

The story of Esther is a powerful story that talks about her life and how she not only became Queen Persa but was able to use her position as Queen to save the children of Israel from total destruction. I know you are thinking, “What?” A Jewish person who is the Queen of Persia saving Israel?  Yep.  That isn’t the only time where God purposely placed a person of Jewish descent in a high position to save the Children of Israel.  Remember the story of Joseph and how he became the 2nd in command of all of Egypt?  The Egyptians were polytheists, but the land of Egypt was in a tremendous drought.  God gave Joseph intelligence, wisdom, and the ability to interpret visions and dreams to escalate him to the highest position in Egypt next to the King of Egypt.

Getting back to the story of Esther, King Xerxes (pronounced Zer-Sees; some translations print the name of the King as Ahasuerus.  Xerxes is a title given to a King.  For example, the Emperor, Caesar, etc.  Ahasuerus is the actual name of the King of Persa.) just promoted a man named Haman to be over all the nobles.  He was the most powerful man who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia (See Esther 1:1).  The problem with what King Xerxes did is that Haman had a huge ego problem.  He enjoyed walking around, demanding people to bow before him whenever he walked by to show their respect.

Mordecai was Jewish, and he refused to bow down to Haman.  The palace officials asked Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the King’s command?” Day after day, Mordecai refused to bow down to Haman, and finally, word got back to Haman.  You know that Haman could not stand for his disobedience and became furious.  Haman found out Mordecai’s nationality and decided not only was Mordecai going to suffer, but he would kill all Jewish people. (Esther 3:6) Haman would not tolerate not having a person embarrass him and feeding his ego.

Now, remember the statement I made earlier about the problem of promoting Haman to the most powerful person in command of the land from India to Ethiopia?  Did you ever think that Haman had a deeper hatred against the Jews and wanted to kill all of them?  Read the beginning of Esther, and you will see:

Esther 3:1 (NKJV), “After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him and set his seat above all the princes who were with him.

Did you see that?  Haman is an Agagite.  Haman’s family are descendants of the Agagites, the bloodline of King Agag, the person whom King Saul spared.  Yes, Samuel killed King Agag, but remember, there were women and children that Saul spared. When King Agag was executed and chopped to pieces, that story still lingered in the hearts of the descendants of King Agag.  I am sure they were infuriated with rage and revenge to get back at the Jewish people.  And now you see the results of not obeying God and the consequences that can happen to you.  One of the descendants of King Agag became the most powerful man in Persia, and he discovered that a Jewish man would not bow down to him.  Because he had a huge ego, only cared about himself, and had a deep hatred over Jewish people, he ordered the execution of all Jews.

Esther 3:8-10 (NLT), “Then Haman approached King Xerxes and said, “There is a certain race of people scattered through all the provinces of your empire who keep themselves separate from everyone else. Their laws are different from those of any other people, and they refuse to obey the king’s laws. So, it is not in the king’s interest to let them live. If it please the king, issue a decree that they be destroyed, and I will give 10,000 large sacks of silver to the government administrators to be deposited in the royal treasury. The king said, “The money and the people are both yours to do with as you see fit.”

I bet you didn’t know that in Persia, the custom is that once a King declares a law, it can not be undone.  Any King who succeeds King Ahasuerus can not write a new law to reverse the law, nor can the existing King change his mind and reverse it himself.  So now the King’s Army, under the orders of the king and leadership of Haman, was out to kill and destroy every Jewish person, and it was now legal to do it.

But let me tell you something: nothing is impossible with God. The rest of Esther’s story is incredible.  God intervened in King Ahasuerus’s sleep by preventing him from sleeping.  So, the King ordered one of his men to read to him from the book of historical records in the middle of the night.  Within those records, the King discovered how Mordecai had saved the King by exposing a plot of two men who plotted to assassinate the King.  Mordecai was not recognized or honored for protecting the King.  So, the King wanted to do something for Mordecai.  Guess what.  Mordecai was the uncle of Esther, who was the Queen of Ahasuerus.  Queen Esther, who was also Jewish, was able to reveal to King Ahasuerus Haman’s plot to kill all the Jewish people.  The result ended with the execution of Haman and his family.  Mordecai was promoted to Haman’s position, and the King gave Mordecai his signet ring.  Since the law to destroy all the Jewish people could not be reversed, Mordecai decreed a new law stating that the Jewish people in every city had the authority to unite and defend themselves.

Esther 8:11 (NKJV), “By these letters the king permitted the Jews who were in every city to gather together and protect their lives—to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province that would assault them, both little children and women, and to plunder their possessions,”

To this very day, anyone who attacks Israel, the people will unite and protect themselves.  I don’t have the room to write everything in detail, but if you read the entire book of Esther, you will see God’s hand in everything.

Now, what is the point of the title of this blog?

Proverbs 14:12 (NKJV), “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.”

Half Steppin’ is you taking parts and pieces from what God has told you to do to make it fit “your” lifestyle.  You are making God’s commandments a convenience in your life.  I’ll do it when I finish this other thing over here.  I gave money at the church, but that was after I bought other stuff or even after I paid my bills.  Really?  You’re giving God your leftovers instead of putting him first.  Let’s be honest.  God doesn’t need your money.  But He wants your faith.  It doesn’t require faith if you paid all your bills and then see that you have some money left to give in church.  To you, that is your sacrifice.  It takes faith in God to give your first fruits and trust Him, believing He will provide for your needs in other areas of your life.

King Saul half-stepped, thinking he was helping the people of Israel.  King Saul was also egotistical, demanding King Agag (the enemy) bow to him.  He paraded around by celebrating and distributing the wealth of the land of the Agagites to the children of Israel.  But that was not God’s plan.  Whenever you half steppin’, you are guaranteed not to be in God’s Will or His plan.  Look at Abraham and Sarah.  They half-stepped and produced a son, Ishmael, who was not part of God’s plan for the children of Israel.  They thought they were doing the right thing, but instead, it created a huge problem.

We all need to pray to God and ask him where we have been, Half Steppin’. Are you fooling  yourself thinking that you are fully obedient to God, but in reality you are just doing things out of your own convenience?   If you are sincere, He WILL answer and show you where you fall short.  Once He shows you, be willing to repent (confess to God that you were wrong, then change your mind and your thinking).  Then, ask Him for strength to be obedient.

• Matthew 16:24 (NLT), “Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me.’”
• Psalm 37:24 (NLT), “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.

The Lord will direct your steps.  If you humble yourself to him, you will be able to take whole steps instead of half steppin’.

Be Blessed

Ron

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