Partial Obedience Is No Obedience

By Danny Saavedra

"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 Lord said 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 Lord anointed you king over Israel. And he sent you on a mission, saying, "Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war on 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 people 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!'"—1 Samuel 15:12–26 (NIV)

When we think of obedience, we often measure it by the action rather than the attitude behind it. I’ve had this issue with my kids before, and I’m sure I’m not alone in this. I’ll direct them to do something, and eventually they do it, but with a bad attitude or begrudgingly and half-heartedly. And as sad as this is for me to admit, my wife has had this issue with me. She’ll ask me to fold and put away the clothes, but I want to relax so I huff and grumble. Let me say this for everyone: When I do this, it’s not right. It doesn’t honor her, and it’s not Christ-like! I’m in the wrong, as are my kids . . . as is Saul.

Saul, the king of Israel, was faced with a clear command from God to completely destroy the Amalekites. However, Saul only partially obeyed. He followed the orders to destroy the Amalekites, but he spared their king, Agag, and kept the best of the livestock. Saul’s justification was that these animals could be sacrificed to God, but his actions and motivations suggest he wasn’t truly concerned with honoring God, but was more focused on his own desires and appearance.

Let’s look at the whole situation. Saul did destroy much of the Amalekites’ property but spared only the best livestock, likely for personal gain or to boost his reputation. This selective obedience shows he prioritized his desires over God’s clear command. When Samuel confronts him, Saul initially justifies his actions by saying the livestock was spared “to sacrifice to the Lord your God.” But this excuse proved insincere a second later as he 1) referred to God as "your God," distancing himself from full submission to God’s authority, and 2) blamed the people for sparing the livestock, saying, “I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them.”

But Samuel’s response was clear: “To obey is better than sacrifice,” especially when that “sacrifice” was entirely self-serving. This passage serves as a sobering reminder of something I often tell my kids: partial obedience is not obedience at all. Saul’s actions may have looked like compliance from the outside, but his failure to fully obey God’s command demonstrated a deeper issue—he neither trusted God nor was submitted to Him. Instead of aligning his actions with God's will, Saul relied on his own reasoning to determine which parts of God's command were worth following. In doing so, he dishonored God and lost the kingdom that was meant to be his.

God values obedience over external acts of worship. This reminds me of a moment in the gospels between Jesus and Judas. In John 12:3–6 (NIV), after Jesus had raised Mary’s brother, Lazarus, from the dead, we’re told she “took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, ‘Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.’ He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.”

Do you see the similarities? Both men acted as if they were in the right, but their hearts were not on the Lord, but on themselves. Look at the strong words of Proverbs 21:27 (NLT): “The sacrifice of an evil person is detestable, especially when it is offered with wrong motives.” This is what we see in both Saul and Judas and in the Pharisees throughout the Gospels who practice their “righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.” Because when we do this, we’ll “have no reward from [our] Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:1 NIV).

God’s call to us is simple: obey. He doesn’t ask for us to understand every detail of His plan or to come up with our own “better” ideas. He asks us to trust Him.

Pause: Reflect on areas in your life where you may be tempted to only partially obey God. Are there commands you’ve rationalized or ignored?

Practice: This week, ask God to help you identify areas where He’s calling you to total obedience. Make a plan to take action in those areas.

Pray: Father, I recognize the danger of partial obedience. Please forgive me for the times I’ve justified my disobedience and acted out of fear or pride or selfish ambition. Help me to trust You fully, even when it’s hard, and to walk in complete obedience to Your will. In Jesus' name. Amen.