Day 16

1 Samuel 15:22 ~ “Then Samuel said, Is the Lord as delighted with burnt offerings and sacrifices as he would be with your obedience? To follow instructions is better than to sacrifice. To obey is better than sacrificing the fat of rams.” (GWT)

When we give our children instructions, we expect them to be obedient and do what we’ve asked them to do. Let’s say you have some errands to run. You tell your child, “I’ll be leaving for a couple of hours, be sure to have your room cleaned when I get back.” When you get home, you happen to pass by their room and it’s not done. Obviously upset by the blatant disobedience, you ask your child, “Why didn’t you clean your room like I asked you to do?” The child replies, “Well I was going to clean the room, but I noticed that the kitchen floor needed to be swept and mopped, so I did that instead. That way you wouldn’t have to do it when you came home.” Sure, the kitchen floor needed to be cleaned, but that’s not what you told them to do. They did a good thing, but because that wasn’t what the instructions were, it still counts as disobedience. Today I want to remind you that it is far better to obey God, than to try and circumvent the system and do what YOU think you should do. If God has told you to do something, do it, EXACTLY the way He said to do it. Disobedience, even in the slightest, may be the door that’s between you and your blessing. Obedience is that key that will open that door. So, do what He said. It may not make sense, you may not want to do it, but as they say over at Nike, “Just Do It”!