‘“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”
~ 1 Samuel 15:22
Hi James and Ellen,
Have you ever done something that you have wished later that you had not done? Something that your grandmaa and grandpaa wish that they had not done was to move into a house that they moved into a couple of weeks after they arrived in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Some of the OC International field team missionaries who were on the Guatemala field missionary team had encouraged your grandmaa and grandpaa to move into this house. About ten days after your grandmaa and grandpaa moved into the house that an OC International field missionary team couple had recently moved out of to live in a house that they were finishing building, thieves climbed over the brick wall that was around the house, jimmied open the back door and stole most of your grandmaa’s jewelry, their camera, small computer, television, VCR, the two dollar bill that your grandpaa had carried everywhere for years and . . . when thieves broke into the house where your grandmaa and grandpaa had begun living, your grandmaa and grandpaa were at a language school getting up to speed with speaking Spanish again. When your grandmaa and grandpaa moved into the house that they had been encouraged to move into by some of the field team missionaries, your grandmaa and grandpaa were not told by these same field team missionaries how often that houses are robbed here in Guatemala – especially when a house is somewhat isolated as this house was, when there is no guy or gal always staying in the house and when a house is near an urban housing development that is known for having corrupt guys and gals living in the development. Your grandmaa and grandpaa did not know when they moved into the first house where they lived in in Guatemala that they would always have to have at least one guy or gal staying in it or . . . one of the main reasons why some of the OC field team missionaries encouraged your grandmaa and grandpaa to move into the first house that your grandmaa and grandpaa lived in in Guatemala was because the house had a big yard where the field team missionaries’ kids could play when the OC International field team missionaries had a meeting. After the house was robbed where your grandmaa and grandpaa first lived in in Guatemala, your grandmaa and grandpaa had a lot of trouble being able to sleep at nights. If your grandmaa and grandpaa had been told about the dangers of living in a house in the area where they would live the first four months or so after they were in Guatemala, they would have right away found another house in which to live that would have been a whole lot closer to the field missionary team office and a whole lot more secure or safe from being robbed.
Samuel – in Samuel 15, says that the Lord grieved or was not happy about something that He had done. The Lord – or God, had listened to His specially chosen guys and gals moaning and groaning for years about wanting a king just like their neighboring countries’ guys and gals had so . . . so God had Samuel anoint a guy whose name was Saul to be king over His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group’s guys and gals. Even though Saul may have been the tallest dude around, Saul had been nothing more than a small fish among his peers before he was anointed by Samuel to . . . not long after Saul began in his king role, Samuel went to Saul with a message from God. God’s message through Samuel to Saul was for Saul to see to it that all the Amalekite people group’s guys, gals, kids and babies be killed along with all the cattle, sheep, camels and donkeys that the Amalekite people group’s guys owned. The Israelite people group’s guys and gals – God’s specially chosen guys and gals, about 400 years earlier were on an exodus from Egypt to the land that God had promised their patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that their extended families would always have to live in as their very own land if . . . when the Amalekite people group’s guys waylaid God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids and . . . the Amalekite people group’s guys, gals and kids were descendants of Esau. Esau was Jacob’s twin bro. Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of porridge. The Amalekite people group’s guys and gals should have seen the Israelite people group’s guys and gals as family instead of . . . Esau had reconciled with his younger bro years and years earlier.
With the help of 210,000 Israelite people group fighters, Saul set an ambush in a ravine near Amalek where Saul’s fighters killed – except for Agag, all the Amalekite people group’s guys, gals, kids and babies. Agag was the king over the Amalekite people group’s guys and gals. Saul’s 210,000 fighters also killed – except for the best fat calves and lambs which Saul told Samuel that he was going to sacrifice to the Lord as sacrificial thank offerings, all the animals that the Amalekite people group’s guys owned. God was very unhappy that Saul had not killed Agag and all the calves and sheep that the Amalekite people group’s guys owned. When Samuel went to see Saul after Saul had supposedly completely wiped out every single Amalekite people group guy, gal and kid for having tried to slaughter God’s specially chosen guys gals and kids as they were making the long, hot exodus from Egypt to the land that God . . . , Samuel confronted Saul about what he had done which he was not supposed to have done. Saul got a real earful from Samuel. Verse 22 says, “But Samuel replied ‘“Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as obeying the voice of the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.” Saul probably really wished that he had listened to God and been totally obedient to Him as God would reject him even though He had made him the first king over the Israelite people group’s guys and gals. If you want fulfilled lives, the only way that that will ever happen is if you live your lives always being obedient to God’s will.
1 Samuel 15 (376)