To obey is better than sacrifice

Some of you are too young to remember Keith Green, but he was both a musical and spiritual hero of mine growing up in the 1970's.  He used a lot of Scripture in his lyrics, and to this day, when I read those words in the Bible, a song starts playing in my head.  Such was the case this morning, as I was reading 1 Samuel 15.

The Lord told Saul to destroy the Amalekites completely, to leave nothing.  Saul did indeed conquer the Amalekites, but he also plundered and pillaged, thinking it was okay because he sacrificed some of it to the Lord.  The Lord was grieved because Saul did not obey him and sent Samuel to talk to him.   Saul gave his explanation (i.e. excuse) for disobeying.  "To obey is better than sacrifice," said Samuel to Saul.

I've been learning a bit about obedience lately.  Sometimes, the Lord asks me to do things that are uncomfortable or inconvenient.  Sometimes, I'm downright rebellious and refuse to do them.  Other times, I might do them, but like Saul, I tweak the plan to satisfy my own desires.

A few weeks ago, I heard a teaching on the Lord's Prayer.  The suggestion was made to pray through the prayer line by line, adding a personal tone to the conversation.  I sat down to do this and immediately got hung up at "Our Father."  My Father, my heavenly and eternal Father...the top dog for all time.  I asked God to help me recognize Him as THE authority in my life, and I asked for the Holy Spirit to enable me to surrender to God's will.

What a powerful prayer that is turning out to be in the area of obedience!  Now, when I am asked to do something I'm not excited about, my prayer goes something like this:  "OK, Lord, I know you are asking me to do this, and I know You know I don't want to.  But I will do it if You want me to."  Admittedly, I have to work on the tone of my voice...I still sound like a pouty little child...but at least I'm sincere.  :)

The cool thing about this: He doesn't always make me do it.  For example,  He will ask me to get together with someone who I know is going through a rough time, and because I'm tired/busy/stressed out, I don't feel up to it.  But I tell Him I will if He wants me to.  Most of the time, I have to do it and end up being glad I did.  But sometimes, I'll get a call canceling the meeting (often for the strangest reasons), and I'm off the hook.

Isn't that just like a Dad with his daughter?  1 John 5:3 says, "This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome."  I used to struggle with this verse because I did see some things as burdensome.  Now I understand - behind those commands are His love.  To obey is truly better than sacrifice.