I Samuel 16:1 says, "And the Lord said to Samuel, 'How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill thine horn with oil, and go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite: for I have provided me a king from among his sons.'"

We live in a day and an age where we are being constantly told of God's acceptance. "It doesn't matter who you are, or what you have done," we are told, "God loves you, and wants you to be His child!" This sounds so true, and yet, what about Saul? Why did this loving God reject him, and might He reject us too?

You might respond, "Well, the Old Testament was a time of law and judgment, but we live in a time of grace." This is true, but what about Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11? God didn't show them a great deal of grace in that situation, and it was in the New Testament! Now I have no idea of their eternal destiny, but being struck dead is what I call the ultimate rejection! A loving God had once again rejected a man, and showed it to all who cared to notice.

But getting back to Saul, just what had this man, whom God had exhalted as King of Israel, done to be so rejected and replaced? Had he cursed his God? Did he serve idols? Did he refuse to follow the commandments of the Torah or Samuel? Just why would a loving God command His prophet to stop praying for him, to "stop mourning" for him? Even with God's grace, and the blood of His Son Jesus, can we today grieve the Lord to the point of Him rejecting us?

We saw last month that David was a man after God's own heart. We know that means he loved him with all his heart (Deuteronomy 6:5), and pursued after the Lord with his whole heart. Did Saul love the Lord? He certainly reigned in the name of the Lord. He wanted Samuel's blessing, which he considered to be the blessing of God, over his kingdom and what he did. But was his devotion genuine, or just in order to get something from God?

In I Samuel 13:6-9, Saul offered a burnt offering to the Lord. This seems like a good thing for the King to do, except you have to ask, "just why did he offer the offering?" He did not offer it out of love or devotion for his Lord, but because Samuel was late for his appointment to offer the sacrifice, and the people were getting scared with the hosts of the Philistines that were "as the sand of the seashore" in number. So he, against the word of the Lord through Samuel, offered the burnt sacrifice as a sign of devotion to the Lord for the people to see. When Samuel came right after the sacrifice, he told Saul (I Samuel 13:13), "Thou hast done foolishly: Thou hast not kept the commandment of thy God, which He commanded thee: for now the Lord would have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever. (vs 14) But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought Him a man after His own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over His people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee."

Yet this wasn't the end, or even the worst thing that Saul did against the Lord his God. Another man that the Lord had a grudge against (yes, he does hold grudges) was Amelek (really his descendants), Esau's grandson. These people were called the Amalekites, and when Israel was leaving Egypt, they hid themselves, and attacked Israel just when they were thirsty and tired (Exodus 17:8-16) The grudge the Lord held against Amelek comes in verse sixteen, "For he (Moses) said, 'Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation,'" I don't know about you, but I would rather not have the Lord at war with me, or my children!

So the Lord commanded Saul through Samuel in I Samuel 15, to "smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling (hey, I said the Lord held a grudge!), ox, sheep and ass." God meant business here. He wanted the Amalekites dealt with in a major way, and without any left alive to tell the tale. Amalek was to be destroyed completely, with nothing left alive, neither man nor beast. If the Lord's will had been done at this time, it would have been the end of the Amalekites.

But alas the Lord's will was not done by Saul. When he was returning from the battle in verse 13, he said to Samuel, "Blessed be thou of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord!" Saul seemed to think that he had really done what the Lord had commanded him to do.

Samuel responded in verse 14, "What meanth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?"

Saul made excuses, and blamed the people, "They have been brought up from the Amalekites; for the people (who is in charge here?) spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest have they utterly destroyed."

Samuel had much to say to Saul in response, and you can read it in verses 16-21 (Saul asserts that he did do the command of the Lord, and then presents Samuel the alive king of the Amalekites, Agag!), but in verse 22 Samuel says to Saul, "Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams."

David was a man after God's heart, Saul was a man after his own gain. God gave David specific commands during battles (II Samuel 5:19-25), and David did what he was commanded to do of the Lord. Saul was commanded by the Lord, and Saul did what was convenient for himself, and what was good in the sight of the people.

So Saul was rejected, and David was anointed king. We will look in future months in bible stories and studies at the many things that happened between David's anointing and his actually becoming king, but in God's heart, it was done right here in I Samuel 15. Saul was rejected, and David was chosen. It took many years and much grief before it actually happened, but it was really done right here.

The Lord did not repent of His rejection of Saul. Just before Saul's death he was greatly troubled about an upcoming battle with the Philistines (in which he died the next day), and he used a woman with a familiar spirit to call up from the dead Samuel himself to give him comfort and advise. Samuel would give him neither, but said (I Samuel 28:15), "Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up?"

And Saul answered, "I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answerth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams. Therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do."

Then said Samuel, "Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the Lord is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy?" He goes on to mention Amelek, and David, and promises Saul that he was going to die in the battle, and be with him before that same time the next day. And of course it happened just as Samuel promised. And isn't it interesting that the man who beheaded Saul, and took his head to David looking for a reward, was an Amalekite! Justice does come from the hand of the Lord!

So we see that the Lord had good reason to reject King Saul, but what about us? What about today? Can and will a loving God reject men today? The Lord said Himself in Genesis 6:3, "My Spirit shall not always strive with man, for he also is flesh." We do indeed live under a different set of rules than the people of the old testament. We have the sacrifice Jesus made on the cross to look to, and his blood to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But does he still reject men? He said, "I am the Lord, I change not (Malachi 3:6)," so can men today be rejected by God?

This is a question each of us must answer for ourselves. Keep in mind what the Lord said the greatest commandment is (Matthew 22:37): "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." Sounds a little familiar, doesn't it? Jesus is quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5! He is still looking for the same thing now that He was in the Old Testament! Someone to love Him! Will you be that someone? Will you make the commitment to keep the greatest commandment? If you will, then you know the Lord will never reject you, but love you forever! Every man, woman, and child must make their own decision to follow after the Lord. Whether we follow half heartedly, or with our whole heart is up to us, and we are the ones who will answer for our decision. But it isn't a decision you make once and for all. You make it every day, in many small ways. How you choose to use your time and money, and where you choose to set your personal affection makes all the difference in the world!

If you choose the Lord, be of good courage! Paul said in Romans 8:38-39, "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the Love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." No one but us can separate us from the Lord! Take courage in that, and be sure to love the Lord with everything you've got!