To Obey or Sacrifice: 1 Samuel 15:1-23

We come to a passage here in 1 Samuel where we are taught a valuable truth about our relationship with God. To make the long story short, God told Saul, the first king of Israel, to devote the Amalekites to complete destruction. This means that Saul was to leave nothing alive (man, woman, child, and animal). As Saul took over the city, he and his man kept the king alive as well as all the spoil and best looking animals. They neglected to do all that the Lord had said.

God came to Samuel, which was the priest at the time and told him how much He regretted that He had make Saul king. Here is what God said, "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments." Truth is, this was not the first time Saul had disobeyed commandment in his short rule as king. When Samuel approached Saul and told him of what the Lord had revealed to him, this was Saul's reaction and response, "I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the kinng of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took the spoil, sheep oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal."

What an unbelievable, cowardly, response. This shows no leadership whatsoever as the king. He blamed his people, that he led, for his disobedience. So, he is lying on top of the disobedience of not devoting the Amalekites to utter destruction.

Here is what Samuel says, "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 doesn't care what you give him, if you don't obey Him first. You can give him all the money you have. You can come to church every time the doors are open. You can give of your time and serve in the nursery or clothes closets. But, if you don't obey Him and His commandments He doesn't care. He would rather you obey Him and not offer sacrifices, than to offer sacrifices and not obey Him.

Obedience is a pre-requisite for sacrifice. You can sacrifice without obeying. I would say obedience is the ultimate sacrifice. So, the question is: are we merely so-called 'sacrificing' or obeying God? Are we saying to God, 'Oh God, look what I am doing for you, and in your name." Or are we saying to God, "Here is your servant, I am humbly submitting myself to You and Your will and ways."

Sacrifice to God without an obedient heart is in the words of Samuel, "rebellion and a sin of divination and presumption as iniquity and idolatry." It is also a "rejection of the word of the Lord." May that not be said of me. May that not be said of you today, this week, and in our lives.