And Samuel said, Hath 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 hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king. {1 Samuel 15:22-23}
King Saul was the very first king of Israel chosen by God. God used prophet Samuel to choose him and anoint him to be the ruler over His people Israel. A couple of years later the Lord gave a commandment to Samuel to have the Amalekites punished and completely destroyed, for a sin they had done in times past that God was angry about. Samuel then tells King Saul to execute this commandment from the Lord. The Amalekites came against the children of Israel unprovoked while they were in the wilderness. They killed the feeble people lagging behind and showed no mercy. If God had not come through for them and defended them, they would have been all wiped out. God now wants the Amalekites wiped out completely and utterly. But instead of obeying the voice of the Lord, King Saul had other ideas. He obeyed God but wanted to do it his own way. He killed some but spared the best of the flock, the most able-bodied of the people, and the king of the Amalekites. He then tells Samuel when he was rebuked for not obeying the voice of the Lord,
“Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone the way which the LORD sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God in Gilgal.” {1 Samuel 15:20-21}
It is very frustrating to tell someone to do something for you and you specifically tell them what you want done, and they turn around and do something else. They did do some of what you wanted, but clearly they didn’t care enough to follow through exactly the instructions you gave them. It is not only frustrating, but vexing – especially when you’re counting on them to do it. Disobeying the voice of the Lord cost King Saul his crown. Instead of having his throne handed down to the next generation of his lineage, God rejected him. God instead went out to look for someone else to replace him and found a shepherd boy named David to take over his kingdom when the time came. King Saul and his three sons were found in a battle few years later among the dead. Ironically enough the one who killed King Saul was an Amalekite.
It is a scary thing to fall in the hands of God. It is a scary thing to ignore His dealings with us. As I wrote in the part 1 of this blog post Obedience Still Matters, God hasn’t changed. He still desires obedience to His word even in our day and age. He never changes. He remains the same yesterday, today, and forever. {Hebrews 13:8} We’re in the grace dispensation age now because of the Lord’s death at the cross. God has revealed Himself to us through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost we can have one-on-one dealings with Him. He can tell us personally what He wants us to do. We don’t need to have a prophet come and tell us what to do or what God wants us to do. That’s what makes the death of Jesus so amazing. Once and for all we have direct access to God Himself through the Holy Ghost. We don’t have to go and find someone who knows God and hears the voice of God to tell us what to do. The Holy Ghost, who is Jesus Christ, is there accessible to all of us today. Young and old, rich and poor, educated and uneducated, man or woman and boy or girl. It doesn’t matter who you are. If you want to know who God is and want to know what He wants for you to do, you can know it. He tells us in His word:
“And ye shall seek me, and find me, when you shall search for me with all your heart.” {Jeremiah 29:13}
The key to having God and knowing His voice is in seeking Him and searching for Him with all of our hearts. If we want Him in our lives He will deal with us, and He will direct us to do what He desires for us to do. But we have to be seeking for Him and listening to Him when He deals with us. When He deals with us in our hearts to do something, if we’re not sure, we need to talk to Him about it. And if you know in your heart He wants you to do something and you refuse to obey Him anyway, then know clearly that there are consequences. Prophet Samuel told King Saul that rebellion is as bad as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. We know how God hates idolatry. He hates witchcraft. Disobedience is sin before the eyes of the Lord. Rebellion and stubbornness are iniquities to Him.
The most important thing in our walk with God is obedience, because God knows the ending from the beginning. He knows what is good and right and what is best for us. He never tells us anything that will be bad for us. If anything, what He tells us is always for our good. Proverbs tell us,
The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. {Proverbs 15:3}
We may think God doesn’t see us or doesn’t care about what we do, say, or even think. But the truth is He does, because the Bible tells us He knows all things and He will judge the whole of mankind when the Judgment Day comes. {Daniel 2:22 and 1 Peter 4:5} That’s why it is imperative to know the voice of the Lord and know what He is saying to us, so that we know what we’re supposed to do. We may not suffer the consequences of our disobedience on this earth now, but a time is going to come when we will stand before the Judgment seat of God and everything will be revealed to us and we will be judged according to our works. Have we followed the Lord wholeheartedly? Have we done what He has commanded for us to do? Do we even know what He’s desiring for us to do on this earth? These important questions need to be dealt with now because their significance does not go away just because we want to ignore them. God is still going to look for answers from us when the time comes. It is so important to know what God wants for us to do in this life now. It is important to have a heart to heart talk with Him regarding these things. If you don’t know the voice of the Lord and what He wants for you to do, now is the time to know it. Now is the time to seek for it. Right where you are you can talk to Him and tell Him your desire to know Him and obey Him. There is no other perfect time than now. All you have to do is talk to Him.
And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. {Luke 9:23}
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. {Philippians 1:21}
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I thank You Father for Your grace and mercy upon me in this life. I thank You for overcoming at the cross so that I can live for You today. I thank You for Your love that is true for me and will never ever fail.
Father, I pray that You will please help me to live for You and do Your will. Help me to know Your voice and obey it. Help me to know what You’re saying to me. I want to live for You Jesus, I want to follow You, I want to do what is good and pleasing before You. But please Father help me to know Your voice and to know what You are saying to me. Help me to know what to do always that I might do Your will. Please give me an obedient heart. I pray these things in Your most wonderful name, Jesus. Thank You, Father. Amen.
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Rp10/2018Obedience-Matters-(Part2)
