Obedience Is Better than Sacrifices
When “just get it done” is the wrong answer
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Then Samuel said, “Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as he does in obedience? Certainly, obedience is better than sacrifice; paying attention is better than the fat of rams.
1 Samuel 15:22 (NET)
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Some context:
King Saul, Israel’s first king, was about to go out for battle.
Samuel had told Saul to wait until he arrived so he could offer the sacrifice to God.
Saul got impatient, thought Samuel wasn’t going to make it, and decided to do the job himself.
The problem was that Saul was not a priest and this was not his job to do.
The other problem was that he was told, explicitly, that Samuel would arrive and to wait for him.
Now, I don’t want to take away from the value of getting things done even when they aren’t ideal. That’s an important lesson for a perfectionist like me to keep in mind. But, that’s not this situation.
This story is about King Saul’s failure to obey God.
Sure, he offered a nice little sacrifice, and checked most of the right boxes.
But he disobeyed God.
That’s the point. It doesn’t matter that he took initiative, displayed some leadership, followed most of the right procedures when offering the sacrifice. At the end of the day, he disobeyed God.
I had a mentor once say, “Delayed obedience is present disobedience.”
Ouch!
I struggle a lot to get myself in gear and get going on what God has for me. But, just as bad, is disobeying God by doing something too soon or in the wrong way.
What if Samuel hadn’t shown up like he said he would?
Well, that disobedience would be on Samuel’s head. Saul would be innocent.
Except we don’t have that story, we have this one.
— Ricky Ketchum
Copyright © 2025 by Ricky Ketchum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.
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