June 11, 2026

1 Samuel 15 contains the stark lesson that obedience is better than sacrifice. When Saul allows the Israelites to keep some of the Amalekite sheep to sacrifice them, but the Lord originally commanded them to utterly destroy everything, the Lord takes away Saul's kingship.

Samuel points out that when Saul was humble, he was made great. Now that he is great, he is prideful and thinks more of his own will. This is also not the first time Saul has had issue with choosing sacrifice over obedience. In chapter 13, Saul offers a sacrifice himself despite not having the authority to do so and is chastised.

But here is the question - why did Saul do what he knew was wrong? There are many reasons we sin. Here is what Saul said:

24 ...I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice.

He feared the people and obeyed their voice. He wasn't actually scared of the people, what we would say today is "he was scared of what the people would think of him, so he did what they wanted instead of what God wanted". How relevant is this in our day? How hard does the world press is to conform and ignore our divine heritage? From the way we dress, talk, the media we watch, the political views we develop, the way we treat others, and so much more - the world tells us if we don't do it their way, which is better than God's, then we are wrong.

There is happiness in choosing the Lord over the world, in staying at the Tree of Life rather than being ashamed when those in the great age spacious building mock. We cannot fear what others think of us, we must fear, or respect, love, and be grateful to, our Savior, who paid the ultimate price to purchase us from the depths of sin and death. His alone are the words that matter.

As Joshua said, choose ye this day whom ye will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

The Israelites wanted to be like the other nations and have a king rather than let the Lord rule them. They cared too much about what the world thought. They FOCUSED too much on what others did and said. Eventually, their king followed the same pattern of pride and misplaced credence.

We must build on the rock of our Redeemer. Anything else, anyone else, will result in our house being washed away.