Open Heaven 4 June 2025: The Danger of Fame
MEMORISE: 1 Samuel 15:24 And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.
READ: 1 Samuel 15:1-31
Samuel also said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over His people, over Israel. Now therefore, heed the voice of the words of the Lord. 2 Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and attack Amalek, and 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.’ ”
4 So Saul gathered the people together and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah. 5 And Saul came to a city of Amalek, and lay in wait in the valley.
6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, depart, get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the children of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul attacked the Amalekites, from Havilah all the way to Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 He also took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
10 Now the word of the Lord came to Samuel, saying, 11 “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.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the Lord all night. 12 So when Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul, it was told Samuel, saying, “Saul went to Carmel, and indeed, he set up a monument for himself; and he has gone on around, passed by, and gone down to Gilgal.” 13 Then Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.”
14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?”
15 And Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.”
16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet! And I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”
And he said to him, “Speak on.”
17 So Samuel said, “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? 18 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 [b]consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the [c]spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”
20 And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. 21 But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
22 So Samuel said:
“Has 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 heed than the fat of rams.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
He also has rejected you from being king.”
24 Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.”
26 But Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
27 And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul seized the edge of his robe, and it tore. 28 So Samuel said to him, “The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you. 29 And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.”
30 Then he said, “I have sinned; yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord your God.” 31 So Samuel turned back after Saul, and Saul worshiped the Lord.
Read Yesterday’s Open Heaven Devotional Here
As the fining pot for silver, and the furnace for gold; so is a man to his praise. Proverbs 27:21
People should not chase after fame because of its potency to destroy. In 1 Samuel 9:1, Saul’s father, Kish, was described as a mighty man of power who was also wealthy. Yet, Saul was obviously very humble because when his father sent him to search for their lost donkeys, he went without complaining. Even during the search, he listened to his servant’s advice to seek a prophet’s counsel concerning the lost animals (1 Samuel 9:6-8).
When he became the king of Israel, he was humble in the first two years of his reign until he began to seek the approval of men. Saul forgot that it was God who appointed him king, and he began to chase after endorsements from men. The first time he did this was when the Philistines gathered against him, and Samuel delayed before joining him at Gilgal. When he saw the people scattering from him, he did what he wasn’t supposed to do by offering the burnt offering (1 Samuel 13:7-10). He did the wrong thing because he wanted to gain the people’s attention and approval. It was a costly mistake because it earned him God’s disapproval.
When we allow the desire to gain people’s approval to move us into doing the wrong things, we have set ourselves against God.
In 1 Samuel 15, despite his earlier mistake, God gave Saul a chance to repent. He instructed him to destroy the Amalekites. God’s command was clear: utterly destroy them and spare no one (1 Samuel 15:3). However, Saul, in his blind lust to be ‘a man of the people, went against God’s instructions (1 Samuel 15:24).
When we seek fame above serving God, we have fallen into the trap of the fear of man because the Bible says that the fear of man brings a snare (Proverbs 29:25).
People who desperately seek fame will compromise God’s standards to please people. At the end of the day, such people, like Saul, will lose out because God will not trust a man who desperately desires fame with the precious matters of His Kingdom.
Beloved, do not chase after the approval of men. Rather, let God’s approval be your primary motivation. When you fear the Lord and serve Him wholeheartedly, He will position you to influence others for Him.
KEY POINT: If you seek fame above serving God, you have set yourself against God.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Job 35-38
Open Heaven 4 June 2025
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