Obedience is Better Than Sacrifice

Hello: 

Here is our text for today:I Samuel 15:10 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 ”I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was troubled, and he cried out to the Lord all that night. 12 Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to

Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.” 13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.” 14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?” 15 Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.” 16 ”Stop!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.” “Tell me,” Saul replied. 17 Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of

Israel? The Lord anointed you king over

Israel. 18 And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; make war on them until you have wiped them out.’ 19 Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?” 20 ”But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. 21 The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.” 22 But Samuel replied: “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. 23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.” Our story today opens with a conversation between God and Samuel.  God is grieved that He has made Saul king because of his disobedience.  Saul has already offered a sacrifice in the earlier battle against the Philistines that he should not have because he felt he could not wait on Samuel to come do it and now Saul was given specific instructions to wipe out the Amalekites and everything they owned.  Saul wipes out the weakest of the flocks and spares the strongest and the king of Agag to offer as a sacrifice to the Lord.   While it appears that Saul’s intentions were good they were actually evil.  God gave him a mission and Saul honestly thought he had done well.    

Samuel rebukes Saul and tells him that the Lord does not take delight in burnt offerings and sacrifice over obedience.   God would rather that we just obey HIM instead of trying to do something that we think would please God.  God is pleased by our obedience.  Saul thought that the thing that he had done would honor and please God but God considered it as rebellion and labeled it as the sin of witchcraft or divination and arrogance as in the sin of idolatry.  In other words, Saul thought he had a better plan than what God required of him and even though he really did sacrifice the things that he had spared to the Lord, it was a complete act of disobedience and rebellion. 

What God wants is simple…… he wants us to obey.   We cannot substitute what we want to do for God for what God requires of us.    God wants us to obey.    God is honored and praised and glorified through our obedience.   We cannot give or sacrifice enough to cover up dis-obedience.      God’s plan is perfect and HE does not need us to adjust or alter it no matter what our motives may be.    

Sometimes it is through trail and error that we figure out what the will of God is for a particular situation.   The key is when we do know for sure what God requires of us then we simply obey.   We don’t have to add or subtract anything from it to impress or try to please God.  God is pleased with our obedience. 

Tomorrow, we will study Saul’s response to what Samuel’s rebuke of his actions.   

 

Be encouraged! 

God Bless!!!!!!!  Don’t forget to pray and read God’s word daily

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