A Good Thing or A God Thing?

Todd Bailey

1 Samuel 15:22

22 And Samuel said, 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...

In this fifteenth chapter of 1 Samuel, the prophet Samuel told King Saul to “go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not...” (vs. 3). As the story unfolds we can see that Saul did not do as he was told. 

Verse 9 states that, “Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and of the lambs, and all that was good...”

Then when King Saul returned from defeating the Amalekites, “Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord. And Samuel said, what meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said, they have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed.” (vs. 13-15). As we read before, Samuel eventually tells Saul, “to obey is better than sacrifice.”

Saul thought what he did was a “good thing”, however it was not a “God thing.”

A lot of people today are like Saul in some ways. They think what they are doing is good and all right. However, just because something is good doesn’t necessarily make it right. Only the things which God tells us to do are right, or a “God thing.” Remember, “Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it.” (Psalm 127:1). We are on this earth to fulfill the purposes that God has given for our lives. One day we will have to give an account of all that we did and God won’t be interested in reviewing a résumé of all of our achievements!

Let’s look at Martha and Mary. They were sisters and they had the same parents - but different priorities. This is best seen Luke 19:38-42 when Martha invited Jesus into her home. As time passed, Martha became preoccupied and distracted and what started out as a “God thing” to serve Jesus turned into a “good thing.” Why? Because Martha started out serving Jesus and ended up serving herself, while Mary chose to do the right thing by listening to what Jesus was saying.

In closing, remember that when we do a “good thing” that doesn’t mean it is a “God thing,” but when we do a “God thing” you can count on it being a “good thing.”