Then Samuel said: “Does the Lord take pleasure in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? Look: to obey is better than sacrifice, to pay attention is better than the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22)
It’s tempting to think if we do certain religious things (whether it’s burnt offerings, church attendance, daily devotionals, or tithing), it can make up for ongoing sin in our life. Saul was commanded by God to destroy Amalek, but he was pressured by his men to keep some of the best of Amalek around for their own profit. Being the weak and impressionable man he was, he gave in.
He justified it by telling himself that they would give part of what they gained to the Lord. When Samuel confronted him, Saul tried to argue that it wasn’t that bad because God’s command didn’t really make sense (15:15), so partial obedience was better than no obedience (15:20), and besides, everyone else did the same thing so you can’t blame me (15:21).
How often do we make the same kinds of excuses? Sometimes God’s commands don’t seem reasonable to us, so we obey the parts we like and ignore the parts we don’t. We justify it by saying everyone else does the same thing, and we make ourselves feel better by dropping a little more in the offering box, or spending a few more minutes reading the Bible.
God shredded all of these excuses when he said to Saul, “To obey is better than sacrifice.” Simple obedience, empowered by the grace of Jesus and the power of the Spirit, is all God is looking for.