The Rejection of Saul

1 Samuel 15
      There's a certain dark humor in the exchange between Saul and Samuel over the spoil of the Amalekites.    Saul 'dedicates to the Lord' all that is 'despised and weak,' but he is unwilling to destroy what was good.  It's pretty clear that he is not reserving it as a sacrifice to the Lord; he is keeping the best for himself.  That's why he keeps Agag alive:  first, Saul doesn't want to set a bad example about killing kings (he's a king himself, after all), and second, Agag alive can be ransomed--dead he's valueless.  So, Samuel calls Saul on it.  Saul's all like, "Yay me! I did what God said."  And Samuel's all like, "So what's with the sheep?"  And Saul's like, "Um, saved them for sacrifice?"  And Samuel's like, "So, why's the king still alive?"  And Saul's like, "Um, sorry?"  Like I said--a certain dark humor.
      On the other hand, the issues are deadly serious.  What does the Lord desire--sacrifices He hasn't asked for or obedience?  Obedience, of course!  That would have been a much more profound sacrifice anyhow.  Similarly, Saul's repentance rings false.  We might be able to fake repentance in front of each other, but there is not fooling the Lord.
      So, lessons?  Well, it's hard to miss the stewardship lesson:  too often we're willing to give the Lord the
'weak and despised,' but not the 'good.'  And it's hard to miss the lesson about deep obedience versus a sort of surface 'spirituality.'  There is a certain hypocrisy with which we want to be known as Christians, but with which we're not terribly interested in letting the Lord have His way with all of our lives.  And, similarly, it's hard to miss the lesson that sometimes our repentance isn't all that sincere.  Sometimes we're just going through the motions as we are confessing our sins; sometimes we are 'attrite' instead of 'contrite.'  (Contrition means a genuine sorrow because we have let the Lord down; attrition is a sorrow that we got caught or that we have to face consequences.)
      The good news, of course, is Jesus, that the Father gave us His best, providing a substitute for us who is completely genuine in His devotion to the Lord, fully committed to His Father's ways.  We might find ourselves uncomfortably like Saul, but Jesus takes those failures into His death and in His resurrection offers the possibility of true repentance and renewed dedication to the Lord.