To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice

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. 1 Samuel 15:22 KJV

This popular passage compares religious activities to being obedient to God. This is how David Platt puts it, ” Like religion and religious observances, worship participation even, can be a mask to cover up disobedience in our lives”. Yesterday we mentioned that complete obedience is equivalent to loyalty. So some worship can actually be disloyalty. In this scene it is. Saul’s lame attempt to sound religious is ridiculous. He had precise instructions. He erred. Trying to put the blame on his people is an old technique called slanting. When we are confronted with sins, it takes humility to be repentant. Thus is where Saul lost it. 1John 1:9 says that if we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive and cleanse us. David Platt in 2021, spent a good part of his podcast repenting on our behalf. Here is parr of the prayer: ”Keep us from deceiving ourselves into thinking we are honoring you, while we are actually disobeying you. God help us, we pray. By your grace, by the power of Jesus’ love and work in our hearts. God help us to live in such a way that you delight in our obedience to your voice, and in this way that our worship before you would be true and right, and holy, we pray, in Jesus’ name”. Amen. I prayed that myself. You should too.