I Was Just Trying To Help!

I

 don’t discuss politics; in fact, I hate them.  Now don’t get me wrong, I do keep up with who’s doing what and I do cast my ballot when election time rolls around.  But I avoid like the plague any political debate or discussion.  I’ve often wondered from where this distaste for all things political stems and I’ve come to the conclusion that it all started way back in my childhood when the political process left me with a rather sour taste in my mouth.

My grandfather was running for sheriff of our county.  Pawpaw loved politics and would discuss them at length at and will.  Many a night I’ve sat in his den and listened to stories about his favorite political leaders from the past.  In an effort to be fair to both sides of the political spectrum, he also had many things to say about the candidates in the opposite camp.  Let’s just say that neither time nor space will allow me to elaborate his viewpoint.  Suffice it to say that he had his own ideas about politics and no one was going to change them. Lucky for us, no one tried.

In any event, pawpaw was running for sheriff and he asked if I would distribute cards for him and ask people to cast their ballots for him in the upcoming election.  I was very please and proud that he asked me to help and I decided to devote one afternoon to visiting neighborhoods and spreading the good word about my grandfather.   

So, one day after school I came home, did my homework, took a huge stack of his campaign cards, enlisted the help of one of my cousins, and began knocking on doors.  I rode through our immediate neighborhood enlisting everyone in my grandfather’s cause.  I expanded my territory to include neighborhoods I had visited in my parents’ car but never by myself. 

My dad didn’t mind me helping pawpaw but he had been specific.  I was to be very careful and I was to be home before supper.  When I left, I fully intended to abide by his wishes.  But as the afternoon wore on, I found myself further and further from home with the sun sinking lower and lower in the sky.  Finally, I wound up in a nice neighborhood but didn’t recognize any of the houses.  I sallied up to a rather large house, knocked on the door, and was pleased to find one of my schoolmates on the other side of the door.  When she answered, I realized I was a good bit farther from home than my father intended.  I gave my pitch about my granddad, left a few cards with her mother, and headed home.

Not far from our house, my uncle pulled us over on the side of the street. It seems an entire search party was out scouring the town looking for us.  My uncle informed me my dad was looking for me and that I’d better head home.  I grudgingly headed that way.  When I arrived home, my mom told me to go to my room and wait for daddy.  It wasn’t long before he came home.  I knew I was in trouble.  All I could say was, “I was just trying to help.”  Daddy, though, didn’t see it that way.  He simply said, “I know, but you disobeyed my instructions.”

I learned a valuable lesson that evening, one that I still remember to this day.  I thought that because I was helping my grandfather that gave me free reign to go where I shouldn’t and disobey my dad’s instructions.  I had put my own interests above his and that was something he simply could not allow.  My actions, no matter how well intended, simply did not justify my disobeying my dad.

1 Samuel 15:22 is an exact illustration of what I experienced only King Saul’s punishment was much more severe than mine was.  In this passage we read, "Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD?  To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”  Samuel had just returned from fighting the Amalekites but he had not obeyed Samuel the prophet’s instructions.

Samuel had told Saul he was to spare nothing.  No one and no thing was to remain alive, not even an animal because the Amalekites refused to help Israel when they left Egypt under Moses’ direction.  Saul, however, spared the lives of the King and some of the nobles as well as animals.  When Samuel arrived to see him, Saul insisted he had obeyed the Lord’s wishes and had only spared the animals to sacrifice them to the Lord.

That’s when Samuel set King Saul straight in his understanding of God’s priorities.  God desires and wants obedience, not sacrifice.  He wants us to obey him, not try to help him.  God does not need our help nor does he expect it.  He does demand our obedience to his commands, however.

When my dad corrected me for helping my grandfather, he was teaching me the importance of listening and obeying his instructions.  He knew that if I failed to learn this lesson early on, the road ahead of me would be a long one to travel.  If there is one lesson that God wants us to learn, it is the lesson of obedience.  We simply need to listen to God’s word and obey it so that we can be all he wants us to be.  So, the question we must ask ourselves to day is this:  Are we obeying God or are we just trying to help him out?  How well are we listening to his voice today?