InChristAlone
Thursday, December 08, 2005
Obedience over sacrifice
I Samuel 15:17-23
"And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?"
"And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed."
"Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?"
"And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites."
"But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal."
"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, and to hearken than the fat of rams."
"For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king."
Here is the setting for these verses: Saul was told by God through Samuel to destroy the Amalekites and all their possessions. Saul took his men and proceeded to carry out the word of the Lord. However, Saul and his people spared Agag, the king of the Amalekites, and the best of the sheep, oxen, fatlings, and lambs. They saved all that were in good condition, but destroyed the rest. The Lord spoke to Samuel about what Saul and his people had done. This grieved the Lord. Samuel was grieved by the news also and cried out to God all night long because of it. He got up early the next morning to meet with Saul. When Samuel came to Saul, Saul immediately greeted him with a blessing. I believe that he also assumed that Samuel had come to bless him for obeying the Lord. He was greatly mistaken. Samuel was there to uncover his sin. He did so by asking Saul why there were obvious sounds of sheep and oxen if they had destroyed them all. Saul then puts his sin on the people. (How often do we find someone else to blame for our sin? Remember how Adam and Eve both put the blame elsewhere?) Saul goes on to say that the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen in order to use them as sacrifices to the Lord.
He tries to "dress up" his sin. His attitude may have been similar to , "This wasn't really disobedience. I simply didn't want to do away with all these animals because I knew that they could be used as sacrifices to the Lord." He points out the acts of obedience by telling Samuel that they had destroyed everything else. (Notice that he includes his sparing of Agag as an act of obedience.)
These verses start with the response of Samuel. He reminded Saul that it was God Who had chosen him to be king and Who had granted him this position of authority. Saul had lost sight of the greatness of God by focusing on his own power as king.
The Lord had sent Saul a test. Saul failed the test miserably. He had not obeyed the Lord, but had allowed desire for goods to dominate his actions. He impulsively snatched up the goods he was told by God to destroy. This was evil in God's sight. Saul somehow thought that his actions were hidden from God. We can never hide our sin from God. There is no way to "dress it up" or even cover it up completely. Sin is sin. Rebellion and stubborness are both just as much a sin as committing murder. Even worse, we are trying to label our sin as something else that does not sound so harsh. We can't play tricks on God, but the truth is, we often try.
Notice that Saul included sparing the life of Agag as an act of obedience to the Lord. The Lord did not tell him to spare Agag. On the contrary, He told Saul to kill him. Was Saul so caught up in his sin that he confused it with the Lord's commands?
When confronted about his sin, Saul places the blame on the people under him. He distracts from his sin by pointing out theirs. They were the ones who wanted to take of the spoil. Poor Saul had been dragged into it. But was that really the case? No!
Something else from these verses grabbed my attention. Samuel reveals to Saul that obedience is better than sacrifice. Saul might have had good intentions to sacrifice these animals to the Lord, but the Lord required him to be obedient, not to do what seemed right in his own eyes. Saul boasted of his sacrifices, but in all reality he had not even learned to be obedient to the Lord. Those sacrifices would have been given in vain.
I think of how this applies to obedience in the spiritual disciplines. I may be involved in all kinds of ministries in the church and serve in numerous ways, but if I am making those sacrifices of my time without spending personal time in God's Word, studying, and praying, and learning more about Him (being obedient), then what good are those sacrifices? I am doing more of what I think I should be doing or what I like to do rather than being obedient to what God has called me to do.
This application became so clear to me. How often do we confuse obedience and sacrifice? We boast of all the sacrifices we have made for the Lord, but we refuse to obey His commands. Too many times the Lord sends us a test and we fail miserably. We are too concerned with trying to make our sin look good instead of confessing and forsaking it. We avoid obeying Him because it would enfringe on our own personal gain. We would rather make what we call "sacrifices" than to have to leave everything behind and follow Him.(Matthew 19:16-22)
"And Samuel said, When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?"
"And the LORD sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed."
"Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the LORD, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the LORD?"
"And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites."
"But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal."
"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, and to hearken than the fat of rams."
"For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king."
Here is the setting for these verses: Saul was told by God through Samuel to destroy the Amalekites and all their possessions. Saul took his men and proceeded to carry out the word of the Lord. However, Saul and his people spared Agag, the king of the Amalekites, and the best of the sheep, oxen, fatlings, and lambs. They saved all that were in good condition, but destroyed the rest. The Lord spoke to Samuel about what Saul and his people had done. This grieved the Lord. Samuel was grieved by the news also and cried out to God all night long because of it. He got up early the next morning to meet with Saul. When Samuel came to Saul, Saul immediately greeted him with a blessing. I believe that he also assumed that Samuel had come to bless him for obeying the Lord. He was greatly mistaken. Samuel was there to uncover his sin. He did so by asking Saul why there were obvious sounds of sheep and oxen if they had destroyed them all. Saul then puts his sin on the people. (How often do we find someone else to blame for our sin? Remember how Adam and Eve both put the blame elsewhere?) Saul goes on to say that the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen in order to use them as sacrifices to the Lord.
He tries to "dress up" his sin. His attitude may have been similar to , "This wasn't really disobedience. I simply didn't want to do away with all these animals because I knew that they could be used as sacrifices to the Lord." He points out the acts of obedience by telling Samuel that they had destroyed everything else. (Notice that he includes his sparing of Agag as an act of obedience.)
These verses start with the response of Samuel. He reminded Saul that it was God Who had chosen him to be king and Who had granted him this position of authority. Saul had lost sight of the greatness of God by focusing on his own power as king.
The Lord had sent Saul a test. Saul failed the test miserably. He had not obeyed the Lord, but had allowed desire for goods to dominate his actions. He impulsively snatched up the goods he was told by God to destroy. This was evil in God's sight. Saul somehow thought that his actions were hidden from God. We can never hide our sin from God. There is no way to "dress it up" or even cover it up completely. Sin is sin. Rebellion and stubborness are both just as much a sin as committing murder. Even worse, we are trying to label our sin as something else that does not sound so harsh. We can't play tricks on God, but the truth is, we often try.
Notice that Saul included sparing the life of Agag as an act of obedience to the Lord. The Lord did not tell him to spare Agag. On the contrary, He told Saul to kill him. Was Saul so caught up in his sin that he confused it with the Lord's commands?
When confronted about his sin, Saul places the blame on the people under him. He distracts from his sin by pointing out theirs. They were the ones who wanted to take of the spoil. Poor Saul had been dragged into it. But was that really the case? No!
Something else from these verses grabbed my attention. Samuel reveals to Saul that obedience is better than sacrifice. Saul might have had good intentions to sacrifice these animals to the Lord, but the Lord required him to be obedient, not to do what seemed right in his own eyes. Saul boasted of his sacrifices, but in all reality he had not even learned to be obedient to the Lord. Those sacrifices would have been given in vain.
I think of how this applies to obedience in the spiritual disciplines. I may be involved in all kinds of ministries in the church and serve in numerous ways, but if I am making those sacrifices of my time without spending personal time in God's Word, studying, and praying, and learning more about Him (being obedient), then what good are those sacrifices? I am doing more of what I think I should be doing or what I like to do rather than being obedient to what God has called me to do.
This application became so clear to me. How often do we confuse obedience and sacrifice? We boast of all the sacrifices we have made for the Lord, but we refuse to obey His commands. Too many times the Lord sends us a test and we fail miserably. We are too concerned with trying to make our sin look good instead of confessing and forsaking it. We avoid obeying Him because it would enfringe on our own personal gain. We would rather make what we call "sacrifices" than to have to leave everything behind and follow Him.(Matthew 19:16-22)
posted by Heather Livingston at 12:53 PM
5 Comments:
Hey Heather! Awesome blog! I know I often confuse sacrifice with obedience. It's easy to do with us, sinners! A lot of us want to be accepted so, in order to do that, they brag and all that stuff. Well, I really liked reading your blog! Thanks for sharing it! I'll cya at church!!!!
Keep livin for Christ!
Ashley:)
Powerful thoughts, Heather! It is so true that we do this all the time. And this is nearly the same thing that happened to Moses - he didn't follow the Lord's commands to the letter, and for his disobedience, he had to pay dearly (he never made it into the Promised Land).
How often we likewise fail, and try to "dress it up" and explain things away. God sees right through that.
When you said:
We can never hide our sin from God. There is no way to "dress it up" or even cover it up completely.
I thought immediately that we can't even cover it partially. We are as transparent as glass to a Holy God that knows us better than we know ourselves. How can we ever think we can "pull one over" on Him?
Thank you for posting. This is a great journal! These verses are very convicting. I think we forget how important it is to obey God. When we sin we know it and yet we try to hide it. We can hide our sin from man but like Jay said we are transparent to God.(and in most cases our sin is transparent to everyone else but us). I pray that we would not just be hearers of God's word but that we would be doer's of it. When there is sin in our heart we do not desire to be obedient to God. We need God to reveal to us any sin that is hidden in our hearts so that we may confess our sin so that there is nothing in our heart that will hinder us from being obedient to God's word. Obedience is sacrifice. It is surrendering our will to the will of our Father. There are things in our lives that we will need to sacrifice in order to be obedient to what God has called us to do. When obedience comes first then our sacrifices will excepted by God.
Michelle
Heather,
What an amazing post and your insights to these passages are well needed in all of our lives.
Sometimes we get caught up in daily functions of life that we forget what it is that God truly wants from us. He wants us to be obedient and trusting.
I know that I need to spend more time in the word. This has really convicted me to make it a habit to have alone time with God in his word.
Also, I would love to share what I have learned in my classes. My email address is on my blog. If you email me then I can send you some of the information that we talked about.
Your sister in Christ,
Angela
What a powerful post! The truth is sacrifice is only acceptable when it is done in obedience!
Thanks for sharing these insights!
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