1 Samuel 15:22 But Samuel replied

  “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord?

  To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

  For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.

Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.

These are the words that Prophet Samuel spoke to king Saul after he defeated the Amalekites and he and his army took hold of Agag, the king of Amalekites and the best of the cattle alive. The command from the Lord was to completely destroy the Amalekites along with all that belonged to them. Instead of that king Saul caught king Agag and did not kill him, and his army too spared the best of sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs and everything that was good to be sacrificed to God.

But Samuel says it is better to obey than to Sacrifice. We must acknowledge that the sacrifices to God are to show our repentance and turning back from our disobedience and to follow God whole heartedly.  So obedience is always better than sacrifices, because if there was no disobedience there would be no sacrifices.

If Saul had done exactly the way God told him to do, there was no requirement of any sin offering.    

From the life of king Saul we see that he was small in his own eyes when God chose him as a king over Israel. He was a humble man and spared the life of those who did not want him to be king. Saul brought Israel many victories from the time he reigned as king over it. He did all that was told by Samuel and followed the commandments of God. Though Saul was a humble man and gave importance to his fellow Israelites, he did not always depend on the word of God. He made decisions of his own. He made own decisions because he was impatient man. He feared God, but not to the extent that he could control the Israelites from sinning against God. His heart was more for the people than God. He worried about the people. So he did all that which people think to be right. He did things that pleased people and not God. He also made decision quickly without seeking the will of God to answer the people who were becoming restless due to long waiting. And finally he also committed sin by not following the command from God to destroy the Amalekites completely. He thought that God would act in the same way He has be doing all the while, forgiving their sins and showing mercy.

Yes, I suppose it would have been like that if Saul repented and sought the forgiveness from the Lord and sincerely prayed to God to show His great mercy that He has been showing all the time. But instead of repenting to God, Saul asked Samuel to forgive his sins. He did not talk to God himself because he did not know God on his own. He knew God is great and He is the one who makes decisions. But what he did not know is that to connect with God and ask God to show mercy and seek His forgiveness for his foolish acts.

When Saul came to know through Samuel that he was acting foolishly and committing sin, little did he know that God has already found a man after his own heart! Saul was arrogant and confident that he will remain king even after doing all that he has been doing. But what happened? God made David king of Israel in a very splendid manner. King David always repented and sought mercy from God. Though king David committed sin in the eyes of the Lord, he immediately repented as soon as he realized the sin.

To obey God is to do His will. When we are not doing His will, we are not obeying Him and are sinning against Him. It is very important to seek the will of God and when we know the will of God, we need to wait upon the Lord. We need to wait upon the Lord because God has set a time for everything. When God choses and places us according to His purpose, He will definitely want us to obey Him and do all that He wants to do through us. This will only bring good in our lives. But sometimes we do things that please others and not God. Pleasing others always bring praise and goodwill in the society. To be called a gentle and humble man we might ignore to rebuke the one who is doing wrong. But when God is not with us, all will be gone slowly and our glory will be given to someone else. That is how God is working. If the will of God is that we lay our lives to save others, we have to lay it down to have it. For Jesus say in Matthew 16:25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.

Which is more precious than the life in this world? For Jesus says in Matthew 16:26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their souls? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?

Jesus came to show us what obedience can bring for us. He gave away the riches of this world when offered by Satan, but gained all the heavens and the earth and He took back His life and lives eternally after laying down His life for the sake of this world that He loved so much and all this He did by being obedient to His Father God. Now everything belongs to Jesus Christ and when the end of the age comes, Jesus will destroy all that is bad.

Let us be obedient to God and do His will and seek His blessings and be victories in our life.

God Bless You !
Amen.