To Obey is Better Than Sacrifice

As a young girl in church a question that seemed to come up frequently was, “If God wanted obedience why didn’t He make us robotic in our actions? Why did He leave the option for man to sin?” The Lord brought this to my mind again while I was working with two very different geldings. Gelding #1 is the perfect first-born (shout out to all the second oldest). I mentioned him in a previous post. He does everything I ask calmly and with beautiful form. Gelding #2 is the problem child. When I first met him, he was aggressive, pushy, rude, constantly anxious, and severely buddy sour (meaning he really liked to be with the other horse he lived with). He never seemed to be able to turn his brain on because he was too busy worrying. However, I prefer to work Gelding #2, and I trust him more. The difference is TRY. The problem child doesn’t do everything perfectly, but he puts forth all the effort he has. He is honest in his actions. When he is stressed, he makes it known and has learned to look to me because he knows I am a place of rest. When he is calm, I can trust that he is not hiding something that will explode later. Gelding #1’s actions are mechanical. They don’t come from a place of effort or desire to please. He simply does the least amount of work necessary to keep me happy. One thing I have found with lazy horses is that they can hide their attitude behind their slow movements. We see their easy trot or their slow lope with their head down and assume it is softness. In reality, the horse is putting the smallest amount of effort into every move they make. With these horses I make a conscious effort to put pressure on them. My goal is to push them past their comfortable level of effort to see if I can discover hidden attitude. There are several elements here that mirror our relationship with the Lord.

When I was thinking about these geldings the Lord brought 1 Samuel 15:22 to mind. It says, “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice…”. Then as I was writing this, the parallels of Mary and Martha started becoming clear. In both situations God desired a seeking heart. He wanted Martha and Saul to look at Him. In one case, when pressure was applied the result was seeking, in another the result was turning away.

Mary and Martha : Luke 10

            Scripture provides us with a historical account of a sibling duo. It does not specifically tell us which is the older sibling, but I think we can figure this one out. In Luke 10, we see Jesus entering a town and being welcomed into a home by a woman named Martha. We are told that Martha had a sister named Mary. From the beginning we see that Martha is the head of the house. She is the hostess who welcomes Jesus in and makes sure He is comfortable. This is an honorable task to set one’s hands to. What better way to serve the Lord than to literally serve him food and drink? However, scripture paints her actions in a negative light using just a few key words. When Jesus began teaching, we read that Mary “sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to His teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving.” It doesn’t say, “Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and Martha served Him.” Martha’s actions are contrasted with Mary’s, and Martha is on the negative side.

            Externally, Martha appears to be sacrificing her energy, her time, and her material goods. Mary, on the other hand, does not appear to be doing anything at all. She is sitting on the floor hanging out with the guests. She was likely benefiting from Martha serving. Yet, Jesus says of Mary, “Mary has chosen what is better…”. She is not trying to prove anything by her actions. In fact, she is risking her reputation as she relaxes while her sister serves. She is honest about her need for Christ. She chooses to show her weakness and go toward her Savior because she knows He is a place of rest. Jesus sees Mary’s longing to be near Him and says, “it will not be taken from her.” That is all He ever asks of us. Anything we perceive we need can be found in His presence.

            When I am working with a horse who simply will not look at me, I push them. I drive them while they look everywhere but at me for their way out. Eventually, they will glance towards me. That is all I want. I immediately give them rest. We read that Martha was “worried and upset about many things.” Yet, she continued to work until she pushed past her comfortable point of work. Then, finally, she turned to Jesus. He replied and showed that He had seen her in her anxiety and told her how to find peace for her heart. He had not been absent, but she had been too distracted; looking for her escape anywhere but in Him. He called her to do as Mary did; to sit at His feet, and find the one thing that she needed.

Saul’s Disobedience: 1 Samuel 15

            Jesus’ desire for relationship with His people can often be easier to see in the New Testament, simply because He is physically present. However, the Old Testament provides story after story of God reaching for connection, calling His people to look at Him.

Let’s reframe our view of Old Testament accounts. This is going to sound a little weird, but bear with me. It can often seem like God has a very firm hand. Imagine, instead, that He is at the center of a roundpen and the people of Israel are running around the pen. They are all over the place, running around frantically looking for their rest. God longs to give them rest, but He knows it can be found nowhere but with Him. He pushes them, causing them to continue to seek until they finally look at Him. This is often the last resort for a horse and the same is true of people. Now, let us look at the story of king Saul with this imagery in mind.

After delivering Israel from Egypt, the first king appointed was Saul. God sent his prophet Samuel to anoint Saul as king, and to give him his first orders. He was instructed to destroy the people who had opposed Israel as they fled Egypt. He followed this command… mostly. Scripture tells us that he spared “all that was good”.  When confronted later, he claims that this was the idea of the people. Whether this is true or not, we do not know. What we do know is that God asked something of him and he only went as far as his comfortable level of effort. He claimed the animals were meant for sacrifices, but would it not have been more of a sacrifice to risk his reputation with the people in favor of obedience to God’s command?

            Sacrifices were included in the law that God gave Moses. It was something the Lord commanded, but in the case of Saul and the Amalekites, sacrifice was not what the Lord desired. God was standing in the center of the round pen, asking more of Saul than he was comfortable with. Saul, never once looking at the Lord, decided he knew better what was “good”. He offered the most controlled, beautiful trots and canters in an effort to please God. However, he did not do the only thing God was asking of him.

            When the prophet Samuel confronted Saul about the animals he spared he said, “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.”

Look at Him

In the case of both Martha and Saul there was an attempt at obedience. Both did things that they had been taught were good things. However, they acted without looking to God first. God wants us to look at Him. He doesn’t care if we blindly and robotically carry out His laws, He cares if we know that we can find rest in Him.