1 Samuel 15:22b. Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
Saturday, Saturday! A somewhat cloudy, but ever so cold Saturday! Yeh friends, it seems like we are moving into the serious part of the winter weather with mostly minus temperatures. Hn! But I remember saying that earlier on in the season, then we were hit with spring-like temps. I wonder if that’s going to happen again? (smile) One can only hope and pray!
But nonetheless, it’s Saturday and we can lay abed a little longer, take things easy and begin recuperating from a tiresome workweek. Unfortunately though, our usual Saturday expose of our friend Anselm’s quotes will not happen, since I have been locked out of my Microsoft e-mail account, meaning I cannot access any quotes our dear friend might have sent me. And that will most likely be the situation until I can regain use of my account.
So what shall we ponder today eh? And the Lord didn’t miss a beat! (smile) I turned a couple pages in the Good Book and there it was right before me; the wise words of Jeremiah, on the Lord’s behalf concerning the punishment of Judah for their rebellion. ‘Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Put (add) your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imaginations (stubbornness) of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward.’ (Jer. 7:21-24)
Now aren’t those some very interesting verses of scripture my brethren? They certainly are! And I daresay that they thoroughly reflect our situation today. But before we get into the meat of the matter, let’s listen to this explanation from the scholars re verses ‘21-23. These verses do not minimize the importance of the Old Testament sacrifices, but call attention to the necessity of the believer living a life of total obedience and devotion to God. The Scriptures consistently teach that religious observances devoid of spiritual reality are worthless (cf. 1 Sam. 15:22-23; Ps. 40:6-8; Is. 1:10-20; Mic. 6:8).’
And that’s the problem right there in a nutshell; there is way too much religiosity without the necessary obedience in our society today. As Bruh Paul told Timothy in his second letter about what would happen in his time. ‘For men shall be lovers of their own selves…lovers of pleasures more (rather) than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.’ (2 Tim. 3:2, 4-5) That’s right friends, many of us today have a lot of religion, but without the power gifted by a real spiritual life.
And yes, sacrifices were important back in olden times, but obedience has always been the NUMBER ONE requirement of our God! Remember how Israel’s first king, Saul, lost his kingdom, through disobedience to God’s directions. He chose to save the enemy’s king and their animals for sacrifices despite the Lord telling him to destroy everybody and everything. And we all know how the prophet Samuel, his mentor, draped him up over the matter, saying to him.
‘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 (divination), 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 Sam. 15:22 -23)
Yuh see mih people, Saul lost his kingship simply because of disobedience. And I wonder if we sit down and ponder some of our own misfortunes, if we wouldn’t see a similar pattern in our lives? For remember, since our God does not change; is the same, yesterday, today and forever, it means that obedience is still His NUMBER ONE requirement for those who consider Him their God. And the good thing is that we no longer have to make burnt offerings or animal sacrifices because Jesus has fulfilled that necessity once and for all time. But yet we still refuse to obey.
And yuh know friends, the more things change, is the more they really stay the same, because listen to what the Lord told Jeremiah way back then. ‘Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee. But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receiveth correction (instruction): truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.’ (Jer. 7:27-28)
And isn’t that the indisputable truth! Our society today doesn’t listen to God’s voice. Instead, a great number of us want to get rid of Him completely from our society…which by the way will never happen. And truth… what is it today eh? What we knew as truth no longer exists, for there used to be one truth, but nowadays there are any number of truths on the same subject. Everybody has their own truth, and the word of the Lord no longer prevails.
So what do we truly expect when we disobey God, even try to kick Him out from amongst us eh? Sunshine, lollipops and roses… prosperity and peace? Not on your life! But the same calamity filled, disaster prone and strife filled life that the rebellious Israelites experienced, and that we are currently experiencing. Friends, it’s not pure happenstance, chance or whatever you choose to call it, that our world is in such turmoil and dissatisfied uproar, our stubborn rebellion, our total disobedience and turning away from God has a lot to do with our current unfortunate situation.
And sadly life will not get better until we have some semblance of a serious return to walking with Almighty God in obedience and LOVE for Him and each other. I don’t know how else to put it. But let’s hope more of us will come to understand and accept it as the truth, as our lives continue to deteriorate under our own leadership. Much LOVE!
…we’ve tried all we know to solve our problems…without any success…why not try God now…we have absolutely nothing to lose…and so much to gain…
Hear our podcast at https://open.spotify.com/show/3aVfqIC1CqwGybISs9dZJ8
SCRIP-BITS 