On Obedience and Sacrifice

1 Samuel 15:22 says, “And Samuel said, 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.”

We can have obedience with or without sacrifice, and sacrifice with or without obedience (and there’s a difference between sacrifice  without obedience and sacrifice with  disobedience. One can be a spontaneous permissible sacrifice that is not required, such as was the case with Elijah and the fire from heaven; and the other can be sacrifice that is forbidden, which was the case with Saul). The Bible doesn’t say sacrifice is not good… but just that obedience is the better of the two.

With that being said, there are  many clear examples in scripture where sacrifice elicited favor from God.

Abel, Naaman, Abraham, Gideon, Isaac, Jacob, and the list literally goes on. Ultimately, as Paul states in Romans 12, we are instructed (tasked with obedience) to present our bodies a, “living sacrifice” to Him.

Obedience is better than sacrifice… but obedience coupled with sacrifice is beautiful.

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