Why Do I Hear Sheep?

1 Samuel 15:22-23 NLT

But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the Lord : your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the Lord , he has rejected you as king.”

God had given King Saul specific instructions to completely destroy the Amalekites through the prophet Samuel. Instead Saul spared the king and kept everything of worth and destroyed everything he thought was worthless. His reasoning was they'd offer sacrifices to God with all that good sheep, goats, and calves they saved. However, God and Samuel didn't see it Saul's way. He was rebuked and eventually lost the kingdom to David, a shepard boy.

God makes it clear to Saul through Samuel's words that God does not need our improvisation on His instructions. There can be a pull to add to God's instructions, "improve" on His plan, give Him what we think He wants, offer Him what we think is good. That couldn't be farther from what God wants. God cares more about our obedience then our good intentions. Why?

Obedience to God, stems from the heart. Obedience has always been a heart issue. When the serpent came to Eve in the garden and she and Adam were disobedient, it was first, because they doubted in their hearts. They allowed the devil to make them question God's true intentions. God was somehow tricking them. (Genesis 3) In their heart they chose to separate themselves from their personal experiences with God and replace it with the idea that God deceitfully withholds goodness from us. Because God is actually untrustworthy, I can do what I want. Like Saul they lost what they valued for a moment of thinking they were right.

There's a specific reason God tells us to love Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. (Duet 6:4-7, Luke 10:27) He could easily just ask us to love Him with our minds only. But just as we can be reasoned into something we can be reasoned out of it. If I involve my heart it takes it to another level. I may change my mind or opinion on things yet, my heart always remains the core of who I am and main motivator. (Luke 6:45)

Just as obedience flows from the heart, so does discipline. When I discipline my toddler it comes from my heart. I love her and know it's what she needs even though it hurts to see her hurt. My mind fights with me that I'm being cruel or a bad parent. My heart knows it's not true. Proverbs 3:12 backs this statement up “For the LORD corrects those He loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights.” God’s correction is always motivated by love.

There also needs to be a distinction between obedience from love versus fear. I aim to do what God asks out of love and not because I fear what He’ll do to me if I don’t. Anyone who has had a domineering boss, a harsh parent, a hardened teacher, understands you are being compliant solely to avoid potential pain or embarrassment. It is not because you actually hold them in high esteem. A relationship motivated by fear chokes out the trust and safety a loving relationship produces. If I allow myself to view God through the wrong lens, I can easily project negative characteristics on Him that aren’t true. However if my lens starts with the bible first, I can start to see it’s not God that has been misguided, but myself.

Additionally, God doesn’t waste words when He asks us to do things. He asks for a specific reason always. We are the vessels He uses to accomplish His will on this earth. He can’t use vessels that chose to go left when He said to go right. He will simply find someone else like He did when He chose David to replace Saul. What a painful thing to live with. To know that because I couldn’t be trusted I got passed up. I couldn’t be trusted because I didn’t surrender my whole heart to God. I wanted to still keep a leg, a foot, a hand, or a toe on the throne of my heart. I needed to keep being in charge because I don’t fully believe God knows what He’s doing.

Granted we are not perfect. We will mess up. Release yourself from the lie that you won’t fail. However when King Saul was confronted by Samuel, he stuck to his story that he did nothing wrong. When Adam was confronted by God, he assigned blame to Eve and Eve to the serpent. How different history might have been if people were willing to just admit their errors. I’m always encouraged by King David in this regard. He was in no way perfect and did some awful things. Yet, the bible calls David a man after God’s heart. ( 1 Sam 13:14, Acts 13:22) It was because anytime he failed, God was the first person He turned to. David didn’t only call on God in times of trouble. He had a close daily walk with Him. God is not my life line only when I can’t fix it. He is my life line every moment, every second and without Him life has no meaning.

So to conclude, obedience is better than sacrifice. Giving God your whole heart is the key to walking in that obedience. It’s the very removal of yourself as the answer and replacing it with God.