You Cannot Have My Stuffed Pig

And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the LORD. I have performed the commandment of the LORD.” And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” 1 Samuel 15:13-14

When my daughter was little, she loved pigs. Not the barnyard kind, but rather the stuffed toy kind. She had many, but one – Pigsley – was her favorite. She carried Pigsley around by his neck all day and snuggled him every night as she slept. Pigsley was connected to her – a vital part of her life. She would have shared her other stuffed animals with us, but not Pigsley. Pigsley was hers alone – something she wouldn’t give up for anyone.

I met a guy a while back who had his own Pigsley. As we talked, he shared how he believed in God, but deep down, he worried about his Pigsley. He felt that God wanted him to give up Pigsley, but he just couldn’t do it. He’d grown up with Pigsley and Pigsley was a part of his life. He wanted to follow God, but he just couldn’t imagine living without Pigsley. He was tormented, knowing that God wanted Pigsley, and knowing how traumatic it would be to surrender Pigsley. For the purpose of this story, it doesn’t really matter what his Pigsley was or even if it was right or wrong for others. What matters is that this Pigsley was the one thing God wanted and one thing he refused to surrender.

Most of us have known our own Pigsley – that one thing we refuse to surrender – which is what today’s passage is about. In the story, God sent King Saul to defeat the Amalekites, commanding him to destroy everything, even the livestock. But Saul and the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs . . . (1 Samuel 15:9). Saul wanted to follow God – mostly. However, he just couldn’t bring himself to give up everything. He had that one thing – his Pigsley – that he couldn’t surrender. For this, God rejected his monarchy. I regret that I have made Saul king (1 Samuel 15:11). Was it wrong for the Israelites to own livestock? No. Then why did God reject Saul over a few animals?

The problem with the one thing we refuse to surrender, is that it becomes our god. God created us to experience life, joy, and peace when we follow him above all. When we choose anything above God, that thing becomes our god, robbing us of the life for which we were made. Our Pigsley may be drugs, pornography, an inappropriate relationship, or even something benign. Whatever it is, when we cling to it above all, God asks us to surrender it to him. If we refuse, we will find ourselves stuck there, never being able to grow or move forward. If however, we give it to him, even if it’s painful to let go, we’ll find a joy and peace that can only be found on the other side of surrender.