“One day Samuel said
to Saul, “It was the Lord who told me to anoint you
as king of his people, Israel. Now
listen to this message from the Lord! 2 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has
declared: I have decided to settle accounts with the nation of Amalek for
opposing Israel when they came from Egypt. 3 Now go
and completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation—men, women,
children, babies, cattle, sheep, goats, camels,
and donkeys.”…. 7 Then
Saul slaughtered the Amalekites from Havilah all the way to Shur, east of
Egypt. 8 He
captured Agag, the Amalekite king,
but completely destroyed everyone else. 9 Saul and his men spared Agag’s life and kept the best of the sheep and goats, the cattle,
the fat calves, and the lambs—everything, in fact, that
appealed to them. They destroyed only what was worthless or of poor
quality.
10 Then the Lord said to Samuel, 11 “I am sorry that I
ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to ME and has refused to
obey my command.”… 12 Early
the next morning Samuel went to find
Saul…. 13 When
Samuel finally found him, Saul greeted
him cheerfully. “May the Lord bless
you,” he said. “I have carried out the Lord’s
command!” 14 “Then what is all
the bleating of sheep and goats and the lowing of cattle I hear?” Samuel demanded. 15 “It’s true that the army spared the best of the sheep,
goats, and cattle,” Saul admitted.
“But they are going to sacrifice them to
the Lord your God.
We have destroyed everything else.”
16 Then
Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! Listen to what the Lord told
me last night!” “What did He tell you?” Saul asked. 17 And Samuel told
him, “Although you may think little of yourself, are you not the leader of the
tribes of Israel? The Lord has
anointed you king of Israel. 18 And the Lord sent you on a mission and
told you, ‘Go and completely
destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, until
they are all dead.’ 19 Why haven’t you obeyed the Lord? Why did you rush for the
plunder and do what was evil in the Lord’s
sight?” 20 “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul insisted. “I carried out the mission he gave me. I brought back King Agag, but I destroyed
everyone else. 21 Then
my troops brought in the best of the
sheep, goats, cattle, and plunder to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.”
22 But
Samuel replied, “WHAT
IS MORE PLEASING TO THE LORD:
your burnt offerings and sacrifices OR your obedience to His voice? Listen!
Obedience
is better than sacrifice, and submission
is better than offering the fat of rams. 23 Rebellion
is as sinful as witchcraft,
and stubbornness as bad as worshiping
idols. So BECAUSE you have rejected
the command of the Lord,
He has rejected you as king.”
This story sometimes seems too
familiar to all of us today. It happens
at home when you’re trying to discipline your children to do chores; at school
when the teacher assigns homework to the students, at work in the boss vs.
employee relationship, and in so many ways, to Believers and also to non
believers. To be honest we all can say,
we’ve been there and done that! And for some of us, we could be even there
right at this moment in life.
Why? Because we tend to forget; other times, we pay
no attention; we’ve been desensitized, and we just disregard the severity of it
and take it lightly!
To get in a deeper understanding
about this rebellious behavior lets define this controversial term, because God
Himself speaking thru Hosea said: “My people are destroyed for lack of
knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge…”[1]
Witchcraft is defined by Encarta
as the exercise of allegedly magical powers. Oxford Dictionary defines it as the practice of magic, especially
black magic; the use of spells and the invocation of spirits.
GOD has always existed, and HE IS
Omnipresent, Omnipotent, and Omniscient.
There’s NO ONE like Jehovah-God. Then why try to apply these characteristics to
something or someone else than HIM? Do not fall into that trap!
When people say that a certain
statue or idol have the ability to do what ONLY GOD can do, that’s wrong; that’s
basically saying: “Lord, I know you created____ but he/she is greater than you;
they can do better than you; and that’s why I follow, give my support and
promote it.”
To bring it home let me ask you, How would you feel if you own
child, would follow, support and promote, your neighbor’s business but not
yours? How about if your own child, forgets about in a time of need in your
life, but then you see him/her care for someone else’s parents with a devotion
that not even to God? It’s like carrying
a rebellious spirit; and it feels like treason. Because it’s not recognizing
your efforts, love or cares, and even worst it means to give to someone else, the
appreciation and merits that belong to you.
Well, guess what? That’s the principle
that applies to us when instead of serving wholeheartedly the Lord we choose to
follow the sin of witchcraft; its rebellion! We are God’s children; and when we disregard
HIM & HIS word, to go follow ____, we’re placing that ____ before God, we
are taking the merits that belong to HIM, and we are assigning them to that
thing, person or place we are worshiping.
Do not yield onto the temptation
to go from sacrifice to sacrifice forgetting that obedience to HIM is always
first!!! REMEMBER….
OBEDIENCE IS BETTER than sacrifice and SUBMISSION IS BETTER than offering…
REBELLION IS as SINFUL as witchcraft and STUBBORNNESS as BAD as worshiping
idols!!!
I’m praying for you that, right about
now, are exhausted and tired of doing good things but that for some reason you can’t
understand why if they’re good things, you’re to the point that you have no time
or energy to slow down and obey when GOD says, stay still and seek MY face and
MY word. I pray you remember every morning when you’re about to start the
busyness of your day, you get to share with Him your love and your desire to
only do those things HE already has planned for you to do by bringing your
agenda to HIM, for HIM to add or remove appointments, according to HIS
will. And I also pray for your eyes to
be opened for when you get to face a “disruption” you can without a doubt discern
if it’s been brought by God as an opportunity to exalt HIM, or if it’s been
brought by Satan to distract and disrupt the work you’re doing for God. And
last but not least I pray for you keep fresh in your mind is that, rebellion is
as sinful as witchcraft; and obedience is better than sacrifice, and I pray for
the glory of God in JESUS name, AMEN!!!
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