And Samuel said, "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 listen than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord , he has also rejected you from being king."
1 Samuel 15:22-23 ESV
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One time, when Saul went to battle against the Philistines, he had to offer a sacrifice but Samuel said that he had to wait until Samuel arrived. However, because of Saul's impatience and anxiety of seeing the people fleeing away from him, Saul performed the sacrifice on his own without Samuel. Right after finishing his sacrifice, Samuel showed up and was terribly angry because Saul disobeyed him.
In my perspective, Samuel was not angry because Saul disobeyed him. Instead, Samuel was angry because Saul prioritized his own ego instead of treasuring his relationship with God.
Today, to love God instead of loving ourselves (in the context of narcissism) is a hard thing. It feels like we are swimming against the current.
However, God wants our obedience rather than our sacrifice done based on our ego -- like what Saul did. God wants us to listen to His heart instead of listening to our own heart. Why? Because a sacrifice done based on our own selfishness is not a sacrifice, but a performance to justify our desire of the flesh.
Following our own heart's desire, when we knew that we are disobeying God, is rebellion. Although social media may say that we have to follow our own heart, God says the opposite.
In a nutshell, obedience is commitment, and it is a symbol of our love towards that special someone. Let's ask ourselves, to whom does our heart incline to? If our heart inclines to our own ego, then it's time for us to spend more time with God to understand and feel His love for us and treasures our relationship with Him. As someone said, cut the ego -- not the relationship.
Now, which one do we want to choose?
EDK
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