NOV 2

1 Samuel 15:1-23
Memorise 1 Samuel 15:22
“…to obey is better than sacrifice…”

The world cannot understand why Christians would spend time, even the best part of their week (Sundays) in church week after week. To them, this is a great sacrifice on the part of worshippers in terms of time, money and energy.

In 1 Samuel 15:22, a question is asked; “Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD?” The prophet Samuel was asking a rhetorical question (a question with an obvious answer) to King Saul as a rebuke to Saul’s disobedience to God. Saul had disobeyed God’s direct command, and had kept some spoils from the conquest of the Amalekites whom he had just defeated. His argument was that these animals which he saved could be used to offer sacrifices to God. Samuel had to correct his wrong thinking, and reminded him that God is far more interested in a person’s obedience. It is no use to defy a commandment of God and claim to be doing so in order to worship God.

While there is truth in the unbeliever’s observation that worship involves sacrifice on our part, genuine believers who truly love the Lord should know that both to serve and to worship God are great privileges and honours. Christians cannot do without both, and cannot do one without the other! A lack of desire to serve makes our worship hollow and even hypocritical, while a lack of desire to worship the One we serve would mean that we have lost sight of the purpose of our service, and that is to please the God we so love. That was Saul’s problem – he tried to worship God on his own terms, and even disobeyed God to achieve it, and that was why he was rejected.

Neither one of worship nor service is more important than the other. In fact, worship is service. We serve God in our worship. Both are equally important because the desire to worship and serve the One true God should exist in the heart of every Christian. God is delighted by the Christian who obeys him, and worships Him in the reverential manner.

Thought: To obey is better than to sacrifice, but joyful, genuine and sincere sacrifice is a sign of obedience.
Prayer: O Lord, give me the wisdom to always do Thy will with proper understanding.