But Samuel answered, “Which pleases the LORD more: burnt offerings and sacrifices or obeying his commands? It is better to obey the LORD than to offer sacrifices to him. It is better to listen to him than to offer the fat from rams.”

In 1 Samuel 15, the prophet Samuel orders Saul, the king of Israel, to “completely destroy the Amalekites and everything that belongs to them.” This order came directly from God. Not only had the Amalekites time and again attacked Israel—and with that, God Himself—their immorality and sinfulness also had reached such levels that the Lord decided to wipe out every single one of them.

Destroying nations isn’t exactly the type of action we would expect from a loving God. It’s good to realize that God’s holiness doesn’t tolerate sin. At all. From that viewpoint, the eradication of Amalek might have happened centuries earlier. God, however, was patient with them, graciously allowing them time to repent. They didn’t.

Have we? Or are we still abusing the grace period God allows us?

So, Saul has to do what Samuel orders him. The king fights and defeats Amalek, but “Saul and the Israelite soldiers felt bad about destroying everything. So they let Agag live. They also kept the fat cattle, the best sheep, and the lambs. They kept everything that was worth keeping,” (1 Samuel 15:9).

Samuel meets Saul, hears the sound of cattle, and confronts him about failing to obey God’s order. The king tries to obscure his disobedience by giving it a pious twist: “The soldiers… saved the best sheep and cattle to burn as sacrifices to the LORD your God” (v. 15).

Saul’s excuse sounds acceptable. Didn’t God install the service of sacrifices? And shouldn’t we give God our best? Indeed. But Samuel’s response in today’s verse cuts like a razor through this varnished selfishness. Offering to God without your heart is in vain.

Friends, we cannot buy off our transgressions with a quick offer, assuming God will feel all right about it. Sin is rebellion, and “rebellion is like the sin of divination,” Samuel goes on to say in verse 23 (NIV). In other words, the moment we sin, we serve another god. God hates that. What He requires—and deserves!—is our unconditional obedience. We must align our lives with God’s Word. Sadly, we so often fail.

Thankfully, we can turn our eyes upon the only sacrifice that did satisfy the Lord. Because it was done out of faultless obedience: the sacrifice of Christ at Calvary! “He humbled himself by being fully obedient to God, even when that caused his death—death on a cross,” (Philippians 2:8).

Let us not cover our sins with so-called good behavior, but humbly acknowledge that we cannot do without Christ. “He is the one who makes our faith complete,” (Hebrews 12:2). His obedience eradicated our disobedience. In Him, the Lord God sees us as spotless.

What a friend we have in Jesus!

By Anton de Vreugd, Bible League International staff, the Netherlands