But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.” (1 Samuel 15:22, 23 NIV)
I really wish you would open your Bible right now and read the fifteenth chapter of 1 Samuel. Have you read it? Notice why Saul spared the animals (vv. 21, 24). Notice also that God was grieved because of Saul’s disobedience. God did not call it partial obedience. Saul was saying how he had obeyed the Lord while all around was evidence of his disobedience; bleating sheep and lowing cattle. Saul called his “partial obedience” obedience. God called his “partial obedience” disobedience.
God continued in that direction and called disobedience rebellion, and rebellion He likened to witchcraft. He also said stubbornness was like iniquity and idolatry. If there is anything more anti-God in the Bible than witchcraft and idolatry, I’m not sure what it is. Witchcraft and idolatry are two things that God hates, and He likens Saul’s disobedience to them.
God has another name for that which some Christians call “obedience.” Unless we get a high view of obedience, God’s view, we will stumble along with compromises. Compromises sound like this: “But we love each other,” and “The Government wastes money anyway,” and “But I found it,” and “Everyone does it.” To the Samuels in this world it sounds like bleating sheep, and to God it looks like idolatry and witchcraft.
(An excerpt from On Being a Christian by Jim Wilson)
I really wish you would open your Bible right now and read the fifteenth chapter of 1 Samuel. Have you read it? Notice why Saul spared the animals (vv. 21, 24). Notice also that God was grieved because of Saul’s disobedience. God did not call it partial obedience. Saul was saying how he had obeyed the Lord while all around was evidence of his disobedience; bleating sheep and lowing cattle. Saul called his “partial obedience” obedience. God called his “partial obedience” disobedience.
God continued in that direction and called disobedience rebellion, and rebellion He likened to witchcraft. He also said stubbornness was like iniquity and idolatry. If there is anything more anti-God in the Bible than witchcraft and idolatry, I’m not sure what it is. Witchcraft and idolatry are two things that God hates, and He likens Saul’s disobedience to them.
God has another name for that which some Christians call “obedience.” Unless we get a high view of obedience, God’s view, we will stumble along with compromises. Compromises sound like this: “But we love each other,” and “The Government wastes money anyway,” and “But I found it,” and “Everyone does it.” To the Samuels in this world it sounds like bleating sheep, and to God it looks like idolatry and witchcraft.
(An excerpt from On Being a Christian by Jim Wilson)
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