READ: 1 Samuel 15,16; Psalm 124; Luke 19:1-27
SCRIPTURE: 1 Samuel 15: 22 But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
1 Samuel 16: 7 But the Lord said to Samuel “The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
OBSERVATION: The above two verses remind us what God expects from us. Against Samuel's instruction, Saul and his army spared the life of the Amalekites' King Agag, and kept the best of plunders for their own use. When Samuel was looking for him, Saul was busy in setting up a monument for his self-glorification. When Samuel confronted him for his disobedience to the Lord, he started to say excuses and tried to put the blame on the soldiers. Instead of repenting from the sin he committed, he was trying to justify about the plunders and concerned about his reputation (1 Sam.15:24, 30). A sacrifice of a disobedient and an unfaithful person is an abomination to God. We should remember that we cannot please God with our sacrifices (or offerings) and hide our sins under the carpet.
Here in 1 Sam.16, we see that Samuel went on to anoint the future king of Israel, as God instructed him. From his past experience of God's selection of Saul, Samuel may had looked at height and outward appearance. However, when Jesse brought his sons one after another, right at the start God told Samuel that he sees the heart of a person, not his/her outward appearance. So Samuel was to see Jesse's sons in the same way how God sees in order to identify the future king among them. How quickly do we judge people by their appearance! God sees a person's heart, not their wealth, education, social status, race, color, etc. We should learn to see others in the same way how God sees them.
APPLICATION: God expects a complete obedience to his word and commandments. I should not be content with my partial obedience that keeps the best for my own use. I cannot please God with my offerings and sacrifices. My intentional disobedience would never give me the desired result. Rather, it would affect my relationship with God. So, I will diligently obey God's word. My regular obedience to God comes out of the loving relationship that I have with him. I will see others without any bias, like God sees them.
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