Obedience

June 24
Obedience

Here are several scripture verses that make it quite clear that the Lord requires obedience from those who profess faith in Christ.

"And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.” -Acts 5:32 "And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation." -Hebrews 5:9, "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience." -Ephesians 5:6 "For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience." -Colossians 3:6 "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” -John 3:36

Here is another clear example of the importance of obedience in the eyes of our Holy God.clear by the scriptures he’s quoted that obedience is an essential component of salvation. In I Samuel 15:32 the prophet tells King Saul, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.”

The incident told in I Samuel 15:11-22 is interesting and of tremendous import to all of us who call on the name of the Lord. Here we discover the transformation that has occurred in Saul, who once bowed humbly before God but now exalted himself in his arrogance as king.

Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night.

12 Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”

13 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, “The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord’s instructions.”

14 But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?”

15 Saul answered, “The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.”

16 “Enough!” Samuel said to Saul. “Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”

“Tell me,” Saul replied.

17 Samuel said, “Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. 18 And he sent you on a mission, saying, ‘Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.’ 19 Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?”

20 “But I did obey the Lord,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. 21 The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal.”

22 But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord?...”

May each of us ask ourselves that question, "Does the Lord delight in what we sacrifice in offering to Him or in our obedience to Him, to His law?" for the answer is the same today as it was in the day Samuel posed it to King Saul.