Sent on a mission

I've been reading in 1 Samuel 15 where God tells King Saul to go and attack the Amalekites, because they had ambushed the Israelites on their way to the Promise Land when coming from Egypt years ago (Exo 17:8-15). God told King Saul to "utterly destroy all that they have and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey."  So, Saul did attack the Amalekites. But instead of doing just as God had said, he spared the king (King Agag) and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good.... saying later to Samuel that he spared them in order to sacrifice them to the Lord.

Because of Saul's disobedience, God was greatly upset. His exact words were, "I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments." (1 Sam 15:11, emphasis mine)

Wow! Can you imagine God saying that about you? That He "greatly regrets".... setting you up in the place where He's set you?

That you have turned your back from following Him?

That you have not performed His commandments as He's told you to do?

A few verses later Saul tells Samuel that he did this "because I feared the people and obeyed their voice," rather than the voice of God and what He had said to him.

I am not exactly sure if that is why Saul did this or not, or if he were pointing a finger and laying the blame upon someone else. Either way, he disobeyed. And to fear and obey the voice of man over our God's voice is something to take note of! We need to take heed and ask ourselves if we have been guilty, too, of doing the same... of fearing man and submitting to him rather than what we've been told by our God that has saved us?

Samuel goes to King Saul to tell him what God had said to Samuel about what Saul had done. Samuel says, "When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the LORD anoint you king over Israel? Now the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, "Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed. Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the LORD?" (1 Sam 15:17-19, emphasis mine.)

Wow (again)! "The LORD sent you on a mission".... "Why then did you not obey" Him?

I've thought a lot about that verse since I've read it. Wondering what "mission" that has God sent me on? What place has He "set me up" in? What has He told me to do? And have "I" obeyed the voice of the Lord? Or have I rebelled in the mission He sent me for? Does God "regret" the place that He's put me?

The KJV words it this way, "The LORD sent thee on a journey and said... Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD...?"

The Lord sent you on a mission..... The Lord sent thee on a journey.... on a road, on a path, in a manner, in a way, in a direction, He sent you toward something, on a course................ but you quit following Him, you quit the direction, the manner, the course, the road, the path, the plan that He sent you on.

As God's people, we are all called to a purpose. All put here for a plan. All set up in the place that God wants us. All sent by our God on His mission.

Are we obeying the voice of the LORD and doing as He's told and wills us?

I want to fulfill what He wills! I don't ever want God to regret the place that He's set me up in... nor say that I've failed in the mission to which He has sent me.