Latest / Scripture Central / When God Delays | 1 Samuel 8-10, 13, 15-16 | Come Follow Me 2026 | John Hilton III | June 8-14

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When God Delays | 1 Samuel 8-10, 13, 15-16 | Come Follow Me 2026 | John Hilton III | June 8-14 · Scripture Central

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Sometimes in life it might feel like God is not coming at the
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appointed time. Maybe we feel like He's delaying
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on us and so we decide to give up on God.
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Don't do it. Hold on to what you know is
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right. No matter where you are in your
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journey, whether you've had a strong start, a weak start, or a
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recent stumble, you can keep going because of Jesus Christ.
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It's not too late for anyone here.
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The Savior's perfect finish is the hope for a new beginning for
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each and every one of us. One of my favorite psychological
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experiments is known as the Ashe Experiment, and as we'll see,
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it's deeply connected to the chapters we're studying today in
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First Samuel. In this experiment, a group of
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people were shown a line, and they were asked which of three
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comparison lines matched its length.
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The answer was obvious. So in this case, you can clearly
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see that the answer is C. But most of the people in the
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group were doctors. They were told to match the
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wrong line, and the experiment was about to see what would the
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one person do who wasn't in on it.
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Would they follow the group or would they say what the obvious
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answer was? Let's take a look at a little
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video clip from The Ash Experiment.
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The Ash experiment is one of psychology's oldest and most
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popular pieces of research. A volunteer is told that he's
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taking part in a visual perception test.
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What he doesn't know is that the other participants are actors
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and he's the only person taking part in the real test, which is
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actually about group conformity. The experiment you will be
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taking part in today involves the perception of line length.
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Your task will be simply to look at the line here on the left and
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indicate which of the three lines on the right is equal to
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it in length. The actors have been told to
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match the wrong lines. The volunteer will be monitored
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to see if he gives the correct answer or if he goes along with
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the opinion of the group and gives the wrong answer.
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In the first Test, the correct answer is 2. 111 21.
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Once again, the correct answer is 233 3. 3 So look at his face.
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You can tell he knows what the correct answer is, but there's
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just this desire we have inside of us.
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We just want to go with the flow.
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We want to fit in with everyone else.
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And you might think that's crazy.
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If I were a participant in the Asher experiment, I would just
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say what I knew the right answer was.
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I wouldn't go with the flow. And maybe you would, but 75% of
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the people in this experiment said something that was
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obviously wrong just because they wanted to go along with
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what everyone else was saying. The Ashe experiment shows us
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that people really want to be like everybody else.
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And that's exactly what happens in First Samuel chapter 8.
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So we're coming to the end of the time of the judges.
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You remember Hannah had a miracle baby named Samuel.
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Well, Samuel has grown up. He's been the last judge of
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Israel, but he's more than a judge.
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He's a powerful prophet, the spiritual leader of Israel.
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But now he's getting old and his sons are wicked, so the people
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don't want his sons to become the judges.
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So the people come to Samuel and they say you're old and your
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sons do not follow in your ways. A point for us then, a king to
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govern us like other nations. Notice how they want to be just
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like everybody else. We read and it came to pass.
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The Lord said if all the other nations ran and jumped off a
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Cliff, would you also jump off a Cliff?
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Just kidding. That's what a modern parent
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might want to say. The Lord didn't say that in
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Samuel's case. He told the people, guys, you do
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not want a king. A King's going to give you heavy
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taxes. It'll be a terrible burden.
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But again, the people said no. We are determined to have a king
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over us so that we also may be like other nations sometimes,
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just like the people of Samuel's day, just like the people in the
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Ashe experiment. We want to be like everybody
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else. And when we think about peer
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pressure, there are some classics situations, right?
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Like maybe in high school we think about someone who's at a
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big party where everyone's drinking.
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Will they drink as well? Or maybe your friends are
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watching a movie that you know is inappropriate.
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Should you walk out of it? These situations aren't just
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real for teenagers, they're real for older people as well.
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And there's different types, I think, of peer pressure that
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come with age. For example, you might be
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tempted to spend so much time keeping up with everyone else at
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work that you neglect your church callings or your family
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responsibilities. Or maybe all the other parents
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are getting their young children a smartphone, so you think I
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better get my young child a smartphone as well.
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Now, just to be clear, maybe there are good reasons to give
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smartphones to young children in some circumstances, but to give
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them a smartphone just because everyone else is doing it is
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probably not one of those good reasons.
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So I want you to think about your own life, your own contexts
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and situations. What do you think are some
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realistic situations today where people feel pressure to conform
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to the world? I want to be like the other
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nations. So I haven't lived here very
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long. And when we first moved, people
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were trying to get to know me and they would ask me what I do
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for a job. And I haven't worked outside the
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home for like 30 years. So I raised my kids and I was my
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mom's caretaker. And when they asked me that, I
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felt kind of like, have I wasted my life?
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Right? It was kind of hard for me.
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So I had to sit down with myself and realize, no, I'm a child of
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God and I'm a woman of covenant. That's who I am.
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Doesn't matter what I did for a vocation.
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Beautiful. Thank you.
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We were just talking about having big homes and all the
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toys and all the vacations, which is wonderful if you can
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afford it. But going into debt to do that,
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it becomes a stress in your home and you feel it in your family
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life and you're trying to keep up with all your payments and
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pay your tithing, do everything else you're supposed to do.
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So when it's when it's that big of us a stress, then that's a
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really hard thing on people to try to keep up with what
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everybody else has. Yeah, thank you.
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So peer pressure is definitely real.
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And in First Samuel chapter 8 we see that there's a deeper
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problem behind it. When Samuel prayed about the
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people's request, the Lord said listen to the voice of the
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people and all they say to you, for they have not rejected you,
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but they have rejected me from being king over them.
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The real tragedy isn't just that Israel wants to fit in with the
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other nations is that they want to fit in more than they want
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God. The problem with peer pressure
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is that our desire to fit in can become an idol.
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And so the Lord told Samuel, listen to their voice and set a
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king over them. Sometimes people reject the
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words of the prophet and God says, OK, fine, have it your
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way. That's, that's OK.
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President Benson called this the Samuel principle.
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He said God has to work through mortals of varying degrees of
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spiritual progress. Sometimes He temporarily grants
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to men their unwise requests in order that they might learn from
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their own sad experiences. Some refer to this as the Samuel
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principle. The children of Israel wanted a
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king like all the other nations, so God gave them a king and let
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them suffer. They learned the hard way.
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God wanted it to be otherwise, but within certain bounds He
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grants unto men according to their desires, as we'll see in
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the next several classes. As you already know from the
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Book of Mormon, when you have kings, there are lots of
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problems. But God says, OK, they can have
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what they want. And so Samuel now needs to find
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a king. And that takes us to the story
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of Saul and the donkey. This is a lesser known story,
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but it is powerful. We're introduced to Saul with
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these words. There was a man of Benjamin
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whose name was Kish. He had a son whose name was
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Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the
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Israelis more handsome than he. He stood head and shoulders
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above everyone else. Wow, what a resume.
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Can you imagine Saul's Instagram profile?
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You can see that genetically speaking, Saul has a strong
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start. Verse 2 tells us how awesome
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Saul was, but verse 3 shows us that even though he's Israel's
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most impressive man, he's still willing to do ordinary stuff.
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In verse 3, we read the donkeys of Kish.
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Saul's father had strayed. So Kish said to his son Saul,
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take one of the young men with you and go look for the donkeys.
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So Saul and the young man who was with him, they went through
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three different regions. They're working so hard and they
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can't find the donkeys. At one point Saul said, let us
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turn back or my father will stop worrying about the donkeys and
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worry about us. But the young man responded,
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there is a man of God in this town.
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Perhaps he will tell us about the journey on which we have set
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out. The man of God was actually
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Samuel. We read as they were entering
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the town. They saw Samuel coming out
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toward them on his way up to the shrine.
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Do you remember when we talked about God's divine Providence in
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Ruth? All of these things just so
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happens. It just so happened the donkeys
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got lost, and it just so happens that as Saul is coming in,
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Samuel is going out. And God hadn't just been
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preparing Saul, he had been preparing Samuel as well.
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We read now the day before Saul came, the Lord had revealed to
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Samuel, Tomorrow about this time I will send you a man from the
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land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be ruler over my
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people, Israel. When Samuel saw Saul, the Lord
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told him, here is the man of whom I spoke to you.
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He it is who shall rule over my people.
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So Saul's coming into town, Samuel's walking out.
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Saul doesn't yet know who Samuel is, so he just goes up to him
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and says, tell me please, where is the House of the seer, Sam
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and Ansel? Saul, I am the seer.
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Come with me to the shrine for today you shall eat with me, and
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in the morning I will let you go and we'll tell you all that is
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on your mind. This must have seemed pretty
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strange to Saul, and his mind is like a look, I just got to find
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the donkeys. And then without Saul saying
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anything about it, Samuel says, As for your donkeys that were
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lost three days ago, give no further thought to them, for
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they have been found. Isn't that crazy?
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How would you feel if you ever saw?
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You haven't even mentioned the donkeys and Samuel already knows
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all about them. Now we're going to continue the
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storyline in just a moment. But I want to pause and think
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about this experience with Saul's search for the donkeys.
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There's a really powerful talk by a woman named Priscilla
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Schreier. She says, I'm drawn to the fact
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that in verse 2, we see Saul's resume.
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He's tall, he's handsome. And in verse 3, we see that He
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is willing to run this mundane, ordinary errand.
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It occurs to me that in most of our lives we are riding on the
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coattails of our verse 2. We want people to be impressed
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with the way we appear on social media.
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We want to be savvy and flashy and we're hoping that that will
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sustain us and carry us and include us in the bigger plans
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of God. That if we're gifted enough, if
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we're talented enough, if we stand head and shoulders above
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everyone else, or at least appear to, that will be what
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includes us in the plan of God. But in Saul's story, it's not
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verse 2, it's verse 3, his willingness to run a simple
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errand that connected him with the promises of God.
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She continues. I want to ask you if you've been
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turning up your nose at the mundane, regular things that God
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has set before you to do. I want to ask you if you've
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ignored the simple details of your life.
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The errands that you've got to run, the dishes that need to get
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done, the laundry that you wash and you drive, but it's just
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dumped out on the dining room table waiting for someone to
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come fold it. The dinner that needs to be
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cooked, the assignment that needs to be written, the details
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that need to be crafted throughout the regular course of
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your day just to make life work day in, day out.
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Sometimes we turn up our noses at those errands, not realizing
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that sometimes it's the donkeys that lead to destiny.
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She says The question we all have is what is God's will for
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my life? And what we really mean when we
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ask that question is we want to know what he has for us for the
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next 20 years. We want to know 20 years from
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now what his will for our life looks like.
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And most often God's response is, if I can just get you to be
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obedient for the next 20 minutes, we'll be on our way
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somewhere. We think that mundane task
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couldn't be for me because I've got some verse 2 stuff going on.
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I've got some importantness about me, some giftedness, some
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potential in me, and I want to use that.
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And so I'm just going to wait till God calls me to bigger and
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better things. So we ignore the donkeys, not
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realizing that the donkey is connected to your destiny.
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God is just waiting for somebody to be willing to do the next
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thing, to do what He's called us to do.
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I want to testify the truthfulness of this principle.
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I have seen it in my own life. I have seen that in mundane,
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simple things, God is preparing us.
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You might right now have a job that just feels like a grind.
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Or maybe you're a student. You're just doing your homework
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day after day. You don't know that the class
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you're in is preparing you for something big that God has in
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your future. Or maybe there's a calling that
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you're serving in right now and you think, I think the bishopric
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just made-up this calling. They made-up this calling for me
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because I need something to do. But maybe something in that
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calling is going to change your life or change somebody else's
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life. Donkeys really do lead to
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destiny. So let's step back and consider
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this principle. It's the donkeys that lead to
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destiny. What do you think this would
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mean in modern life today? And have you ever seen this in
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your own life? As you were speaking about this,
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it made me just even think about my life as a mom and just the
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mundane tasks, the everyday that you do, the laundry, the cooking
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of dinner, taking out the trash, picking up of children in the
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carpooling and what is important about all of this.
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And yet if we shift our our thoughts, and I found this later
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in my mothering is how would it look doing these things if I
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looked at them as sacred opportunities and how would I
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perform them and how might I view them?
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And I really feel like a lot of what we do, it's the lens in
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which we choose to look at things and we can see that these
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small things, the looking for lost donkeys is really leading
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us to another place. The nothing is lost to the Lord
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and everything is sacred to him. When we do things with holiness
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in mind, in performing those mundane things with a different
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perspective, I think can really transform us and our enjoyment.
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Thank you. It's beautiful.
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To me, this just connects to the principle that by small and
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simple things are great things brought to pass.
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I'm a musician, and I wouldn't be at the level that I'm at with
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my instrument today if I didn't spend a lot of time just
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practicing and just doing things over and over and over again.
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That wasn't the flashy, fun part of that experience.
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That wasn't the cool part. But it has helped me develop to
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the point where I can participate in those things.
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Thank you. I feel really confident that
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some of us, we're in this space right now.
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We're just practicing every day an instrument or a sport
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something. It just feels like I don't know
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if I'm getting anywhere or we're a parent and we're just doing
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things over and over again and we wonder, is this making a
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difference? But I really testify the
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principle that these donkeys lead to our destiny.
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You are laying the foundation for a great work and these small
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and simple things. Now I know some of you are
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thinking to yourself, Brother Hilton, that talk from Priscilla
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Schreyer sounds incredible. I wish I could listen to the
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whole thing. Wish granted.
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It is an incredible talk and I've linked to it on the course
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website. But let's go back to the
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storyline of Samuel and Saul. We read then Samuel took Saul
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and the young man and brought them into the hall and gave them
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a place at the head of those who had been invited, of whom there
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were about 30. Now think about that.
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Yesterday Saul, I didn't even know he would be invited to a
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feast, and now he's placed at the head of the table we read.
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Samuel said to the cook, bring the portion I gave you, the one
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I asked you to put aside. The cook took up the upper thigh
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and said it before Saul. Samuel said, see, what was
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reserved is set before you eat, for it was kept for you for this
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appointed time. Think about these phrases.
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There was something reserved for Saul.
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It was set aside for him. Can you see the power of this
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passage? God had something set aside for
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Saul before Saul even arrived. There's an appointed time.
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There's something set aside. There is something reserved for
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you as well. Remember these words from the
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Lord. I know the plans I have for you,
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plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future
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with hope. God has plans for you, and God
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had plans for Saul as well. So that takes us to Saul's rise.
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In the next chapter, Saul will be anointed king by Samuel.
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And at first Saul is really humble.
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In fact, he even hides when the people try to crown him as king.
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But eventually the people found him.
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And we read Samuel said to all the people, do you see the one
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whom the Lord has chosen, there is no one like him among all the
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people. And all the people shouted, Long
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live the king. Now it says that all the people
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shouted this, but actually a couple verses later we see that
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not everyone cheered for Saul. We read some worthless fellows
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said how can this man save us? They despised him and brought
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him no present. But Saul held his peace.
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So remember those guys. Now sometime after Saul was
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crowned king, there was a crisis.
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There were some Israelites who lived east of the Jordan River
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and they were being attacked by the king of the Ammonites.
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He would gouge out their right eye.
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So many of these Israelites, they fled to a city called
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Jabish Gilead. And then the Ammonite king
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besieged the city. So the people in the city, they,
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they begged for peace. And the king of the Ammonite
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said, OK, I'll, I'll let you guys go, but I'm going to cut
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out each one of your right eyes. And the people of the city said,
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oh, give us a week to see if we can get anyone to help us.
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And if not, we'll surrender. So the people of Jabish Gilead,
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they plead for help. And messengers come and tell
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Saul what's happening. So Saul cuts up an oxen, and he
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sends it all throughout Israel. And he says whoever does not
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come out after Saul and Samuel, so shall it be done to his oxen.
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So the people rally to Saul. He brings a large group of
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people through the night, right to Jabbish Gilead and then does
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a surprise attack on the Ammonites, and they're
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victorious. Saul's actions were so heroic.
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The people of Jabbish Gilead had been saved.
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They were so happy. And in fact, some of the
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Israelites wondered if the people who had earlier mocked
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Saul should be punished. They said, who is it that said,
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shall Saul reign over us, give them to us so that we may put
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them to death? But Saul said, no one shall be
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put to death this day. For today the Lord has brought
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deliverance to Israel. So everything's perfect.
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Saul is now the king of the United 12 tribes of Israel.
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We might say that Saul has a really strong start, and it's
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hard to know how long this strong start lasted.
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In First Samuel chapter 3, there's some information that's
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missing. Different Bible translations
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handle this differently, but it's clear from the original
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source materials that we have that some textual information is
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missing. So we don't know for sure how
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long Saul was king, but some time has passed and all of a
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sudden Saul's strong start is going to meet a weak moment.
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Now, you've heard the phrase timing is everything.
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Timing might not literally be everything, but have you ever
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shown up at an airport 5 minutes too late?
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So timing might not be everything, but it's definitely
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important. And we see this in First Samuel
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chapter 13. Solid gathered together an army
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to attack their enemy, the Philistines.
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And after an initial Israelite victory, the Philistines came
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forth with huge forces and the Israelites are vastly
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outnumbered. So now things are looking very
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difficult for Saul and his army. We read when the Israelites saw
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that they were in distress, the people hid themselves in caves.
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Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him,
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trembling. Saul waited seven days, the time
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appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to
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Gilgal, and the people began to slip away from Saul.
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So Saul's in a tough spot. Samuel was supposed to come and
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offer a sacrifice, but he hadn't shown up yet.
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And the people who were with Saul were starting to slip away.
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Or in other words, they're deserting from the army.
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So Saul chose to take matters into his own hands and offer the
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sacrifice himself. Now for you and me, when I
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think, well, that's not that big of a deal, but it was breaking a
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commandment from the Lord. Now here's where we get to the
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phrase timing is everything we read.
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As soon as Saul had finished offering the burnt offering,
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Samuel arrived. So if Saul had waited for just
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five more minutes, everything would have been completely
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different. Samuel asked.
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Saul, what have you done? Saul replied.
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When I saw the people were slipping away from me and you
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did not come within the days appointed and that the
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Philistines were gathering, I offered the burnt offering.
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Do you notice how Saul is shifting the blame?
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It's kind of like what we saw with Aaron.
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Remember when he said out popped out this calf I got?
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I don't know what happened. The people were slipping away.
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You didn't come when you said you would.
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It's easy to fall into the trap of blaming others for our
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decisions. President Uchtdorf talked about
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this story, and he said when pressured by outside influences,
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Saul did not have the self-discipline to stay on
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course, trust the Lord and his prophet, and follow the pattern
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God had established. The difference of a few degrees,
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as with Saul's failure to hold fast to the counsel of the
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prophet just a little longer, may seem minor.
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But even small errors over time can make a dramatic difference
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in our lives. It's the same principle we saw
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back in First Samuel chapter 8. It's what we saw with the ash
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experiment. It's a desire to conform to peer
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pressure. Samuel told Saul, You have done
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foolishly. Now your Kingdom will not
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continue because you have not kept what the Lord commanded
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you. Sometimes in life it might feel
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like God is not coming at the appointed time.
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Maybe we feel like he's delaying on us, and so we decide to give
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up on God. Many years ago, President Henry
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B Eyring told a story that has just haunted me.
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It's a story about what happens when you stop trusting in God,
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when it seems like he's delaying longer than you thought he
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would. Listen to this story and see if
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there's a message in it for you, President Eyring said.
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I remember a story told to me long ago, far from here, by a
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sad voice. She said it happened on a summer
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Saturday afternoon. She was tired.
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Tired of being single, tired of trying to be a faithful latter
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day St. not so much tired of being kind and virtuous as tired
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of nothing good seeming to come of it.
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She had not had a date in months.
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She saw no prospect of even becoming friends with, let alone
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marrying, a man who shared her faith and ideals.
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In frustration, she found herself deciding something.
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She decided that afternoon, consciously, that years of good
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works and restraint had produced too little and promised no more.
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She said to herself almost aloud.
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Oh, what's the use? Just then the phone rang.
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It was a man's voice, a man she knew.
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He lived in the same apartment building.
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He'd asked her out before. She had refused because she was
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sure he would expect her to compromise her standards, that
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she had preserved a great effort.
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But almost as if directed by a scriptwriter, he called her at
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that instant. She didn't say yes, she said,
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I'll think about it. She thought about it.
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He called again. And finally she repeated to
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herself, Oh, what's the use? She went.
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She found she had been right about his intentions, and in a
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choice about time and about waiting or not waiting, her life
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changed. So she will never know what
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might have been ahead on the path she decided wasn't worth
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the price. She knew quickly the other one
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was uphill and a hard climb. What if she had waited on the
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Lord just a little bit longer? And this part really haunts me.
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She'll never know what might have been on the other path.
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But she found out that the path of not waiting on the Lord was
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so hard. There's somebody today who is
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prepared to give up on God. They're saying I've waited so
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long, there's no more hope. I quit.
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Don't do it. Hold on to what you know is
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right. Consider another story of delay.
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I'm so inspired by Sherry Do. She once described how her life
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didn't unfold the way she would have expected.
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Let's listen to her. Look, I I never in a billion
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years thought I would have not married by now.
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I just, I've been promised marriage and so many priesthood
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blessings and I've been fasting and praying for a husband for 50
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years. 50 years this is true. 50 years, it's crazy.
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It would be so easy for shared you to give up to say well I
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guess God's plan for me just isn't working out so I quit.
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But instead she is pressed forward with faith and blessed
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literally millions of people with her testimony of Jesus
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Christ. And I know some of you are in a
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tough spot. Some of us are thinking God has
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missed his appointed time for me.
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But don't lose faith. Don't do what Saul did.
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Follow Sherry's example instead. Do you remember the story of
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Gyrus and the New Testament? His daughter was dying, and he
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begged Jesus to come heal her. Jesus agreed, but on the way, he
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stopped to heal another woman. It's this beautiful moment for
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everyone except for Gyrus, who's like, you got to come right now.
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My daughter is dying. And just then people come up to
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Gyrus and say, your daughter is dead.
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Why trouble the teacher any further?
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You can just see Gyrus's face crumple.
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But then Jesus said do not be afraid, only believe.
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And because Gyrus kept walking with the Savior even during the
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delay, he saw a miracle he could have never believed would have
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happened to him. Consider Mary and Martha.
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They faced a similar moment. Their brother was dying.
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They urgently sent for Jesus, and they knew that Jesus could
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heal him. But Jesus delayed.
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By the time the Savior arrived, Lazarus had already been dead
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for four days. He was too late.
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But even in her moment of grief, Martha said, Lord, I believe
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that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into
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the world. When you feel like God is
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delaying your blessings. Can you say with Martha, I
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believe you are the Son of God? That's what will give you the
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power and the strength to move forward even when it feels like
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God is not coming at his appointed time.
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Unfortunately, Saul moves in the opposite direction of Martha,
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doesn't trust when there's a delay.
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And that takes us to the next part of his story.
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Samuel had told Saul that his Kingdom would not continue.
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In other words, he said, Saul, your descendants won't sit on
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the throne. But Saul continued to be king.
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At one point, the Lord gave Saul a clear command.
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The Amalekites were to be completed completely destroyed,
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including their king Agag. Now it's natural.
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Maybe deposit. Why would God give a command to
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destroy an entire people? This doesn't seem like the God
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we worship. The church's scripture study
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helps. Manual gives some great
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insights. It says the Amalekites were a
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people who did not fear the Lord.
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They also ambushed the children of Israel who were camping in
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the wilderness during the Exodus and killed many of the most
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vulnerable Israelites. In response, the Lord declared
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that the Israelites should eventually blot out the
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remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.
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We do not know all the reasons why God commanded Saul and his
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army to destroy all the Amalekites and their animals.
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However, we do know that God cares deeply for all of His
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children and that he takes no pleasure in the death of the
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wicked. He is all knowing and perfectly
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just and merciful. So that's helpful context for
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us. Now Saul has gone to the battle.
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His command is clear. Then we read Saul and the people
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spared Agac and the best of the sheep and of the cattle and of
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the fatted calves and the lambs, and all that was valuable and
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would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and
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worthless they utterly destroyed.
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So Saul wasn't completely disobedient.
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He was what we might call selectively obedient.
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He did the parts of God's commandments that made sense to
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him and that ignored the parts that didn't.
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Now Samuel wasn't at the battle, but the Lord revealed to Samuel
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what had happened. The Lord said, I regret that I
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made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me
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and has not carried out my commands.
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The next morning, Samuel goes out to meet Saul.
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Can you picture the scene? It's a fresh, cool morning.
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Saul makes it seem like everything is wonderful.
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He says, may you be blessed by the Lord Samuel.
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I have carried out the command of the Lord.
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Can you picture Samuel? He kind of cocks his head.
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You can tell he's listening to something he says what then is
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this bleeding of sheep in my ears and the lowing of cattle
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that I hear Saul, you were supposed to kill all the
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animals. Saul says they have brought them
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out from the Amalekites for the people spared the best of the
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sheep and the cattle's a sacrifice to the Lord your God.
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But the rest we have utterly destroyed.
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Notice how again he's shifting the blame to others.
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Samuel says why did you not obey the voice of the Lord?
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That is a powerful phrase. I think sometimes when we shift
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responsibility, God and his prophets to say to us, no, no,
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no, it's not what the people did.
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Why did you not obey the voice of the Lord?
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You are accountable for your actions, Saul says.
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I have obeyed the voice of the Lord.
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I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me.
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I have brought Agag, the king of Amalek, and I have utterly
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destroyed the Amalekites. But from the spoil the people
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took sheep and cattle, the best of the things devoted to
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destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God and Gilgal, You
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can hear Saul's rationalizations for his disobedience.
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The people did this, and it was for a good 'cause we're doing
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this to sacrifice. Samuel is then going to say some
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words that I hope you will remember for the rest of your
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life. Now I fooled around a lot in
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seminary, so I don't think I picked up on this phrase when I
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was in high school, but later on my mission I heard these words
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and I have never forgotten them. Samuel said how's the Lord is
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great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obedience
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to the voice of the Lord, surely, And here's the key
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phrase to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the
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fat of Rams. To obey is better than
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sacrifice. Saul tries to cover up his
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disobedience by saying well, we're going to do a sacrifice
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and maybe we fall into the same trap as well.
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We're thinking I'm not doing everything I'm supposed to be
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doing, but I'll just show up at church or I'll do some extra
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ministering. It'll all even out.
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To obey is better than sacrifice tells us that obedience to God's
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commandments, that's the priority.
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Jesus said if you love me, you will keep my commandments.
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Sacrifice is definitely important, but it can never
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replace doing what God has asked us to do.
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Saul finally admits what he's done.
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He told Samuel, I have sinned, for I have transgressed the
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commandment of the Lord and your words because I feared the
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people and obeyed their voice. We're right back to the ash
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experiment, trying to fit in, fearing what other people will
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think of us. Saul buckles under the power of
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peer pressure, but you can tell he wants another chance.
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He says pardon my sin and return with me so that I may worship
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the Lord. Samuel says, I will not return
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with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the
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Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.
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For Saul, God's judgement has come.
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The Kingdom is gone, and in the next chapter, David will be
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anointed king. After David kills Goliath,
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Saul's going to spend the rest of his life trying to kill
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David. He'll wind up seeking a witch to
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give him guidance, and ultimately Saul will die in
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battle. Saul's life is a tragic tale.
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It illustrates a pattern we see so often in Scripture.
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A strong start but a weak finish.
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We might think it's not fair Saul should get another chance.
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Now we have to acknowledge this story is 3000 years old, so
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there's obviously lots of details that we don't know.
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But we do know that we can get to a point where it is too late
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to repent. It's not a verse you would
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probably want to put on a cross stitch, but remember what Samuel
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the Lamanite said. Your days of probation are past.
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You have procrastinated the day of your salvation until it is
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everlastingly too late. Now, just to be clear, nobody in
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this room is in the place where Saul was.
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It's not too late for anyone here.
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In fact, if you're worried that it's too late for you, that's a
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good sign that the Holy Ghost is working on you.
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All of us are going to be in different places.
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We might have had a strong start, we might have had a weak
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start, but all of us at times are going to stumble.
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And when you stumble, I want you to remember the story of Heather
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Dornaden. She was in a 600 meter race.
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It was 3 laps around a small indoor track.
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They've already gone around 2 laps and at the end of the
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second lap, Heather stumbles and falls to the ground.
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She quickly gets up, but now she's in last place.
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Against all odds, in the final lap, Heather runs past every
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other runner and she wins the race.
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Later, when Heather reflected on this experience, she said, It's
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probably one of my greatest running memories of all time.
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It's something that is completely unexplainable to me.
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Besides, through a higher power, I feel like the Lord just filled
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me up and gave me the opportunity to show what amazing
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things can happen through Him. I testified that the Lord can
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fill you up even when, especially when you stumble.
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No matter where you are in your journey, whether you've had a
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strong start, a weak start, or a recent stumble, you can keep
34:05
going because of Jesus Christ. Think about him in terms of
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mortality. Jesus had a very humble start, a
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Manger, but then from that point on, his trajectory was almost
34:15
the opposite of Saul's. Where Saul made excuses, Jesus
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said, I have come to do God's will.
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Where Saul feared the people, Jesus said, I always do what is
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pleasing to God. Where Saul obeyed partially,
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Jesus became obedient unto death.
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In Saul we see a strong start but a weak finish.
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In Jesus we see a humble start and a perfect finish.
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And on the cross, Jesus said it is finished.
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The Savior's perfect finish is the hope for a new beginning for
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each and every one of us.