We Can't Obey on Our Terms

0:00Here's today's in-touch devotion. Today's Scripture reading is 1 Samuel chapter 15 verses 17 through 23. Samuel said, Is it not true, though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel. And the Lord anointed you, king over Israel, and the Lord sent you on a mission and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the amalakites, and fight against them until they are exterminated. Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord, but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the side of the Lord? Then Saul said to Samuel, I did obey the voice of the Lord and went on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and have brought back Aegog, the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the amalakites. But the people took some of the spoil, sheep, and oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God at Gilgal.

1:02Samuel said, Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the Word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king. When God calls you to do something, how do you respond? Most of us don't raise a fist at Him in yell, I won't do it. Instead, we usually struggle with the idea for a while. Sometimes we argue telling Him all the reasons why it won't work, or we could react like Jonah and simply run the other direction. However, there's another response that is often so subtle, we don't even recognize it as disobedience.

2:03Substituting our plan for God's is a way to appear obedient, but quietly avoiding what He's actually asked. That's how King Saul responded to the divine command he'd been given. Saving a few animals to sacrifice to the Lord seemed more reasonable than total obedience, and in Saul's eyes, perhaps even more honoring to God. His sin seems obvious from the outside, but we make similar substitutions more often than we realize. Maybe God is calling you to serve in a particular way, but because you're afraid, you settle for a less challenging commitment. Sometimes we have so blended our plans with His that we can't differentiate between the two. We should ask, what am I substituting for obedience? God's plan may be harder than the one we choose for ourselves, but it leads to where we need to be.