So Samuel said [to Saul]: “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 heed than the fat of rams.”
1 Samuel 15:22
Recommended Reading: Psalm 40:6-8
Author and pastor Ben Patterson was mountain climbing with three friends when he took an ill-advised short-cut and got separated from the others and found himself trapped on an icy ledge. When his friends finally found him, they talked him off the ledge, telling him where to put his feet (which he couldn’t see) as he inched off the ledge. Only by obeying the instructions of his more-experienced friends was he saved from certain death.
There is value in obedience. Often we think we have a better idea or plan than God. But once we execute our plan we lose the opportunity of seeing how beneficial God’s plan would have been. Saul, the first king of Israel, learned the hard way that God delights in obedience more than anything else. When Saul substituted his plan for God’s, it cost him the throne of Israel (1 Samuel 15).
One of the greatest challenges of the Christian life is to learn that God says what He says for a reason. Better to take Him at His word.
Beware of reasoning about God’s Word—obey it!
Oswald Chambers
Read-Thru-the-Bible: 1 Samuel 15 – 16