Have you ever noticed that humankind often feels they know better than God about some things? We more often tell God what to do than hear and obey him as he speaks to us. We read in 1 Samuel 15.22-23: But Samuel replied: ‘Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD?’ What can we offer to God that’s better than his Word?

The Prophet Samuel is here addressing King Saul, who thought it would be a better thing to offer God an animal sacrifice than to obey his order to destroy them. Samuel nails the situation down as he continues: ‘To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.’ Do you see it now?

To attempt to offer God what he has already condemned is worse than sin itself! It means abject disobedience and is subject to judgment. Samuel continues: ‘For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.’ But that was King Saul—what has that to do with me? GOD HASN’T CHANGED!

This is never a matter of making Father God mad at us! The problem lies in our effort to make him accept our behavior on our terms rather than on his terms. He is serious about this! And what is his judgment for rebellion? Samuel concludes: ‘Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.’ Oh, beloved, let us choose to obey rather than to try just to offer some sacrifice.