Tues.’s Devo - To Obey is Better Than Sacrifice

Read: 1 Samuel 15:1-16:23; John 8:1-20; Psalm 110:1-7; Proverbs 15:8-10
Saul was told by God to attack and completely destroy the Amalekites. There was nothing but evil about them and God wanted them off the face of the earth. Instead of killing all of them, he left the king alive and the best of their sheep and cattle. God was not pleased with Saul’s disobedience and sent Samuel to tell him.
Samuel found Saul erecting a monument of himself. When Samuel confronted Saul about keeping the best animals alive, Saul excused his actions by saying he let them live to make a sacrifice to the Lord. Samuel told him that obeying the Lord is much better than a sacrifice of our own choosing. Rebellion is the same as witchcraft and arrogance was the same as idolatry. Since Saul had refused to obey God, then God had to relieve him of his office of king.
Saul was humiliated and sad, but he worried more about how the people would see him. He begged Samuel to go with him to make a sacrifice so it would look like Samuel still honored him. Saul was eaten up with insecurity and pride. He cared more about what the people thought than what God thought.
Samuel killed Agag, the Amalekite king then left for home where he grieved for Saul. God finally told him to stop grieving and go anoint the next king. He would find him in Bethlehem, the same place the angels found Jesus when he was young. This man had eight brothers and the one God was looking for was the youngest and he was not even invited to the party. It was David. He was out keeping the sheep and too young to be considered by his father, but his heavenly father knew his heart. David was brought in and anointed as the next king in front of his brothers. The Spirit of God came upon David, but an evil spirit came upon Saul. Saul’s advisors sent for a harp player and found David. Whenever Saul would go into one of his spells, David would come in and play and soothe his nerves. Saul loved David and made him his armor-bearer.
In John, they brought the woman caught in adultery. Where is the man? In the law they are both to be judged. They wanted Jesus to judge her. Instead he judged them. There is a verse in Jeremiah that says, “Cursed is anyone whose name is written in the dirt.”. I wonder if Jesus was writing their genealogies down. Anyway, when Jesus finished writing, all had left and Jesus told her that he wouldn’t condemn her either.
Jesus went back to the temple and proclaimed to be the light of the world. They challenged his statement because he only had one witness: himself. Their law demands that you have two witnesses. Jesus explained he did have two witnesses, him and his father. But, they would not understand that because they didn’t know his father.
Lord, we want to know you. We don’t just want to know about you, but we want to know you like Jesus knew you.