DOUBTS

The wisdom of the fathers

DOUBTS

The dreadful ruin of King Saul began with his doubting the word of the Lord. God had told him to slay a certain Canaanitish nation, women, children, animals and all. It was wise and it was a merciful command and as well. But Saul saw fit not to obey. He obeyed partially, sparing many of the best looking animals.

When Samuel met him and asked if he had done what God had commanded, he replied that he had. Samuel's rejoinder was: "What means then this bleating of sheep and lowing of oxen that I hear?'' The king's reply was that he had spared the best of the cattle for sacrifice. Samuel's solemn answer was: "To obey is better than sacrifice.''

Then followed the words that God had rejected him for his disobedience. From that day the man fell rapidly, until at last, a few years afterward, he takes his own life on Mt. Gilboa. The ruin began by doubting the word of God; the doubt leading to disobedience, and the disobedience to his ruin.

Perhaps nothing could more deeply wound the reader of these lines than for a person to doubt his word. Men knock each other down for such things. To be called a liar is a deep insult. 

?(from "Sanctified Life" by Beverly Carradine)