No Substitute for Obedience

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 9
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It was useless for Saul to blame the people for what had occurred and to plead that the sheep and oxen, which had been spared, were to be offered in sacrifice to the Lord. Samuel brushed the excuses aside sternly, saying, “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.” Here we have a principle of vital importance to the people of God in all ages. There is no substitute for obedience. The Man Christ Jesus delighted from first to last in all the will of God, and He has left us an example that we should follow His steps. Our innermost thoughts, the motives of our hearts, and our actions both at home and abroad should be under the control of the revealed will of God. No plea for usefulness in service can be accepted in extenuation of what we know to be contrary to God and His Word. Toleration of evil in our ecclesiastical surroundings, in the hope that good may somehow be wrought, will not do for God. Whatever the consequences to ourselves and to others, we must obey.
Samuel stripped the disobedience bare and revealed its true character as God saw it. “Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and stubbornness (i.e., self-will) is as iniquity and idolatry.” Saul himself in his better days recognized the evil of witchcraft, and sought to suppress it (1 Sam. 28:3-93Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. 4And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem: and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa. 5And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. 6And when Saul inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. 7Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at Endor. 8And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee. 9And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die? (1 Samuel 28:3‑9)), and no graven image appears to have been set up during his reign. But he is now told that his self-will was the equivalent of both witchcraft and idolatry. Why? Because it displaced God with something else. The supremacy of God was thereby challenged by a creature. Self-will—the refusal to hear the divine voice—is as serious an evil today as when Saul stood condemned by the prophet of God in Gilgal.