Obedience or Sacrifice?

Saul said, I did obey the Lord..."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.” 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. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry" 1 Samuel 15:21-22

The Lord directed the Israelites to kill all of the enemy and leave nothing remaining. Chapter 15:2-3, "This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they way laid them as they came up from Egypt. Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”

 

Although the Lord gave instructions to leave nothing remaining, in their own discernment they thought it good to take the best of the sheep and cattle as a sacrifice to the Lord. A couple things here.

 

1. With good intentions they disobeyed God. (we do that too)

 

2. Behind every good intention that is not appointed of the Lord is always some self interest. Burnt offerings to the Lord were often eaten. They took the best of the sheep and cattle as an offering to the Lord, but at the same time, they were having a BBQ y'all.

 

The Lord wants obedience. Regardless of what we think is best, even if it's for God, He wants obedience more than sacrifice. The "It is written" course is a course the Lord gave to me to write and implement, he told me "do not sell it but give it away" Now I could have thought at some point maybe I should sell it and use the money to build the ministry" Many have told me to do just that. But God said, "do not sell it" He will build his own ministry in whatever way he sees fit. So I must be obedient to God even though in my eyes it would make sense to sell it.

 

And so verse 22 tells us, "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"

verse 23 cuts like a knife,

"For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry"

 

Although disobeying God, the Soldiers thought they were doing a good thing, Even when we think we're doing good, we must examine everything we do against what God has actually called us to do and let obedience rule over sacrifice.