Sun.’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 In Exodus 17 we read the story of how the Amalekites came out against Israel when they had left Egypt. Joshua lead the battle and Moses had to hold up his hands the whole day so that they would win the battle. Joshua finally won and God told Moses, in verse 14, to write this down and rehearse it in the hearts of Joshua - He would utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. *** Samuel told Saul that it was time to completely destroy the entire Amalekite nation - the people and their animals. Saul took 210,000 men and completely destroyed the Amalekites but he let the king, Agag live and the best of the animals. *** God knew what Saul had done and told Samuel that he was sorry he ever made Saul king because he was not obeying him. *** Samuel went out to confront Saul as he was returning from war. Saul was happy to see him and told him all he had done. When Samuel asked him about the animals and Agag, he said he had kept the animals alive to sacrifice to the Lord. (I doubt that was true.) Samuel told him that to obey the Lord was better than any sacrifice. *** Saul said he was sorry but the people had convinced him to do what he did. He begged Samuel to come back with him and worship the Lord. Samuel refused to go and told Saul that God had rejected him as king of Israel. As Samuel turned to leave, Saul grabbed his robe and tore the hem. Samuel told him that the Lord had torn the kingdom of Israel from him that day and would not relent. *** Saul, the people pleaser, begged Samuel to come and honor him before the people and worship the Lord with them. Samuel finally agreed to do this. Samuel called for King Agag and killed him and cut him into pieces. He then returned to his home in Ramah and never met with Saul again. He mourned him until finally the Lord told him to quit mourning and go anoint God’s choice as king. *** Samuel knew he could not do this openly or Saul would kill him, so he went to Bethlehem with the pretense that he was there to offer a sacrifice to the Lord. He invited Jesse and his sons to join him. At the sacrifice, Samuel went through Jesse’s sons starting at the oldest, who like Saul, looked like a king. God told him that He didn’t choose like men chose. He finally asked Jesse if he had any other sons. He had the youngest, who was watching the sheep. Samuel told him they wouldn’t eat until he had come. *** When David arrived, God said, this is the one. Saumel anointed David and the Spirit of the Lord are powerfully upon David from that day on. Samuel went back home. *** Meanwhile, a tormenting spirit from the Lord came upon Saul and his servants offered to find a man to play the harp. One of the servants knew about David and described him as a talented harp player, a brave warriors, a man of war, one with good judgment, fine-looking, and the Lord was with him. *** David came with his father’s blessing and served Saul. Saul came to love David and he made him his armor-bearer. Every time the tormenting spirit came, David would play his harp and the spirit would go away. *** In John, Jesus went back to the Temple to preach and the teachers of the religious law brought him a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They didn’t bring the man. The thought they had Jesus. They put her in front of the crowd and demanded of Jesus what he thought they should do to her. They reminded him that the law of Moses said to stone her. *** Jesus knelt down and wrote with his finger in the sand. Then he stood and said, “Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped and wrote some more. One by one, the elders slipped away. Jesus stood and asked the woman where her accusers were. Then he told her, he didn’t condemn her either. He was the only one who could have. He told her to go and not sin anymore. *** Jesus told them that he was the light of the world, a term used to describe Jerusalem during this festival because of the huge lights they had. He told them that if they followed him, they would not walk in darkness but have the light that leads to life. The Pharisees said his claims were not valid. *** Jesus disagreed and told him that he and the Father were the witnesses to what he said. When they asked where his father was, he told them since they didn’t know who he was, they would not know who his father was. They knew that he was saying that since they didn’t believe he was the Messiah, they didn’t know God. The only thing that kept them from arresting him was the fact that it was not his time yet. God decided when it was time, not them. *** Lord, our times are in your hands. Our days are numbered just as Jesus’ were. We do not need to fear death or our time to leave this earth and go to our reward.