We are going to look at another story from 1 Samuel today. The story is found in the 15th chapter of the book. I'll link it here so you can read the whole thing. I'm just going to tell the story and will only be quoting the main scriptures we will be looking at.
The background is that Israel demanded a king and God gave them Saul. He was tall and handsome. He looked on the surface like the perfect candidate; and he was at first. Unfortunately, it appears according to our text, that becoming king went to Saul's head.
Samuel, the prophet, went to Saul with the word of the Lord and told him that God is sending him to destroy the Amalekites. We have looked at this kind of thing a little in other studies, how people think God is harsh when He gives the decree for the destruction of a people; but, every time God destroys a people, it is because of grievous sins, child sacrifice being only one of them. As a matter of fact, we see in our story that God warns the Kenites, the people of Jael in Judges 4, to move away from the Amalekites to be spared. It wasn't just, "Go kill everybody!" Most of the Canaanites were very bad people.
Anyway, God told Saul, through Samuel, to kill every man, woman, child, and even the livestock (yes, the Amalekites defiled their cattle, too). Saul goes forth and does what the Lord commanded...almost. He kills all the Amalekites from "Havilah to Shur", all except for the king. He also saved the best of the livestock. But, he destroyed everything else.
God says to Samuel,
“I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned away from following Me and has not carried out My instructions (vs. 11).”
When Samuel goes to Saul, Saul says,(I paraphrase here) "Look! I have carried out all the Lord commanded. I have killed the Amalekites!"
Samuel says, "Then, what is the bleating of sheep and lowing of cattle I hear?"
Saul says, "Well, I saved the very best cattle to sacrifice to the Lord. I mean, they were so fat and beautiful, God surely didn't mean for me to kill them. I really am setting up the altar to sacrifice them right now."
Samuel says, "You know, you used to be humble when God made you king of Israel but now, He sends you on a mission and you think you can change the command of God."
"I have completed the mission the Lord gave me! I destroyed all the Amalekites. I only spared the cattle and sheep for sacrifice. Well, I spared the king too but, only the king," Saul said.
Now we come to the focus of our study,
"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.
For rebellion is as the sin of divination,
and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
he has also rejected you from being king.'”
1 Samuel 15:22-23
There is a lot being said here but the main thing is God prefers obedience to His word above all else. We can give to the poor all day long, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick (which are all sacrifices of our time and resources) but if we are not obeying what God has said for us to to personally, we are missing the mark.
Jesus reiterates this point in His Sermon on the Mount where He says,
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock." Matthew 7:21-24
Here are just a few examples of verses that let us know what the Lord thinks about obedience:
Why do you call me 'Lord, Lord; and not do what I tell you?
But if you carefully obey his voice (the Angel of the Lord) and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
But this command I gave them: 'Obey my voice, I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be will with you.'
But He said, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"
Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
So, the next time you are making some grand gesture before the Lord, make sure you have a heart of obedience first because, as we have learned, that is what the Lord really wants. God loves a good sacrifice but, if it isn't done in obedience, it's not a true sacrifice. If we are obedient to the word of God, we will have taken care of the inward things and this will lead us to the outward things.
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