1 Samuel 15:22 ESV
And Samuel said, “Has 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, and to listen than the fat of rams.
God gave king Saul specific instructions that he was to carry out as he went to war with the Amalekites. He was to destroy everything, but Saul disobeyed. The bible says that Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
When confronted by Samuel, his excuse was that he had spared these things to offer them as a sacrifice to God.
Haven’t we all found ourselves in a similar position from time to time? We fail to walk in obedience, but we think that if we give a big offering, then it is well. We totally ignore the instructions of the Lord throughout the week, but on Sunday we sing the loudest with our hands raised and tears flowing on our cheeks.
God demands obedience, that is how we demonstrate our faith in him and our love for him. Obedience has to be immediate because delayed obedience is disobedience. Sometimes the window and grace to walk in obedience is very short and if we delay we miss it. Remember the children of Israel and the promised land? They missed their window of obedience, and that whole generation died in the wilderness.
Obedience also has to be total. It’s not that Saul did not obey, the problem was that he did not obey completely. Half obedience is also disobedience. God expects us to totally obey what he tells us.
As we obey, we must also do it with thee right attitude. We cannot obey while we complain. I am sure you can think of a time you obeyed your parents’ instructions but with complaints and tears. We know God loves a cheerful giver, let me also add, God loves a cheerful and obedient child.
To obey is better than sacrifice.
Reflections.
How do you feel when someone you have oversight over fails to obey your directives?
What is that one instruction from God you have struggled to obey?
Delayed obedience, partial obedience or obedience with a wrong attitude, which one is your struggle and how do you overcome it?
