Guest Post: The Heart of Rebellion

This is the first ever "guest post" here at CROSS-eyed. This was an article Jonathan wrote for our monthly newsletter, "Pursuing Maturity."

“For rebellion is as divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king.” (1 Samuel 15:23)

Let’s set the context for this intriguing statement by Samuel to Saul. Saul had been instructed to “go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey” (1 Sam. 15:3). Saul, however, decided that he would impress God with his own ideas. He thought surely God would be pleased if he spared the good animals so that he could later offer them as a sacrifice. “God in His law,” Saul reasoned, “has asked that we sacrifice animals without blemish to Him.”


Samuel’s response to Saul’s faulty reasoning is well known, “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams” (1 Sam. 15:22b). The second half of Samuel’s response is less known, but has serious consequences for our lives. “For rebellion is as divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry” (1 Sam. 15:23a). God did not want Saul to apply his assumptions to His command. He wanted to be obeyed.


Divination is simply another term for a form of witchcraft that claims to be able to proclaim the future. Here Samuel is saying that when we rebel against God we are claiming that we are able to know the future better then God. We are acting as if we have the right to make certain decisions based on what we perceive the future to hold and not what God has commanded. Saul assumed Samuel wasn’t going to make it in time for the sacrifice, so he did it himself (1 Sam. 13); and, he assumed that God would surely want the good animals as a sacrifice.


I don’t typically think of my disobedience as witchcraft, and I doubt you do either, but it is at the very heart of our rebellion. You walk by the stranger on the street and keep silent about Christ because you think he will not want to hear you out. Divination and presumption. You lie to your boss about the expected revenue for the coming quarter because you think you will be fired. Divination and presumption. The moment we make a decision based on what we think and not what God has commanded we are guilty of divination and rebellion.


Oh how desperately we need a Savior. We don’t even begin to realize the lens through which God sees our “simple” daily sins. They are an abomination to Him; lying no less than witchcraft. Let us fall upon the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Humbled by The Word,
Jonathan Brooks
Associate Pastor