Obedience
1 Samuel 15:22 says "to obey is better than sacrifice..."
Sometimes we feel like obedience always has to be difficult. The Lord always asks us to do what is best for us. Sometimes it requires sacrifice- giving up things we like/want, sometimes it is difficult or painful. But, sometimes He asks us to do things that we might enjoy- that might even be fun.
It seems, at least for me, that sometimes it is more difficult to obey the things that don't seem like a sacrifice. Take for instance, my most recent major decision in life: to leave my job. Now, I love my job, but I love being a stay at home mom even better. So when the answer came that I should be home, it was hard to follow, because I really wanted to. It didn't seem like a sacrifice. It felt almost too easy to obey.
Now- I loved my job. That was hard to leave. But it was a wonderful thing I was going back to. It wasn't a sacrifice to obey.
Obedience requires humility, an ear for personal revelation and a willingness to obey. Those three elements individually can be difficult, but all three at the same time are hard to do. Thank goodness for a loving Heavenly Father that gives us blessings for our obedience that we can see and feel. It gives us hope and faith to continue to obey. Our faith in God increases as we see that He really does have our best interest in mind, and we can find real joy living His will.
What are your thoughts?
Sometimes we feel like obedience always has to be difficult. The Lord always asks us to do what is best for us. Sometimes it requires sacrifice- giving up things we like/want, sometimes it is difficult or painful. But, sometimes He asks us to do things that we might enjoy- that might even be fun.
It seems, at least for me, that sometimes it is more difficult to obey the things that don't seem like a sacrifice. Take for instance, my most recent major decision in life: to leave my job. Now, I love my job, but I love being a stay at home mom even better. So when the answer came that I should be home, it was hard to follow, because I really wanted to. It didn't seem like a sacrifice. It felt almost too easy to obey.
Now- I loved my job. That was hard to leave. But it was a wonderful thing I was going back to. It wasn't a sacrifice to obey.
Obedience requires humility, an ear for personal revelation and a willingness to obey. Those three elements individually can be difficult, but all three at the same time are hard to do. Thank goodness for a loving Heavenly Father that gives us blessings for our obedience that we can see and feel. It gives us hope and faith to continue to obey. Our faith in God increases as we see that He really does have our best interest in mind, and we can find real joy living His will.
What are your thoughts?
I went back and looked up the scripture reference. Saul had not been obedient to the Lord because he 1) didn't courageously stand up to the people 2) allowed them to do what they wanted 3) wasn't obedient himself to the Lord's instructions.
ReplyDeleteIn this case the people wanted to do their own thing and "sacrifice" animals to gain favor- instead of being obedient and killing them all in the first place as told to do. When we choose to follow our own counsel and then do something "nice" to make up for it- that is not obedience or sacrifice.
Sometimes obedience is easy, sometimes it is not. Sometimes sacrifice is hard, sometimes it is not. I think people get caught up in the sackcloth and ashes part of sacrifice forgetting the plain and simple parts. We often sacrifice one good thing for another good thing. In that instance, sacrifice or obedience may not be hard at all.
I think the take-home point for me is not to be like Saul and willfully disobey and then try to do something, I want, to make up for it. In that instance to obey IS better than sacrifice. We have to keep an eternal perspective and daily obedience to the promptings as our focus.