OBEDIENCE
In the book of Leviticus, God set out the Laws of Sacrifice needed to illustrate obedience to God’s requirements for sin to be covered. These were laws that the Jewish people were compelled to follow if they were to remain on good terms with Jehovah. And only the highest quality sacrifice would be acceptable. “You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God a bull or sheep which has any blemish or defect, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God.”( Deuteronomy 17:1)
But even then, God really had different plans overall. In 1 Samuel 15:22 “…Samuel 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 heed than the fat of rams’.” You see, to follow the Laws of Sacrifice was really only a means to obedience and it was obedience that God really required.
Obedience, however, is often not what God received and there are many examples in the Bible where this happened and the consequences that ensued. For example, in 1 Kings 2:3 David said Solomon to “…keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgements, and His testimonies…[t]hat you may prosper…” In other words, he was to obey the Lord. In return, he was told “…if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments…then I will lengthen your days” (1 Kings 3:14). But this was not to be. Solomon eventually “…did evil in the sight of the Lord…” (1 Kings 11:6) and “So the Lord became angry with Solomon…” (1Kings 11:9) for he had not “…kept My covenant and My statutes…”(1 Kings 11:11) and Solomon’s life ended at about the age of 60.
In 1 Samuel 15 Saul was told by God through Samuel to punish Amalek and to “…utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them…”(1 Samuel 15 3). Saul, however, took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive as well as the best of their animals (apparently to sacrifice to the Lord). But Samuel responded to this by saying: “Why did you not obey the word of the Lord?” (1 Samuel 15:19). He also said: “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king” (1Samuel 15:23).
So, Solomon disobeyed God and apparently had his life shortened as a result of his disobedience and Saul lost his position due to his failure to heed the Lord’s instruction. Both of these, however, were rather serious breeches of their commitment to God. Do so “lesser offences” have the same results? Let’s look at Moses for a moment. He led the Hebrews out of Egypt and in the wilderness for 40 years. He was a faithful follower of God and intervened multiple times on behalf of his people. Just when they were about to enter the promised land, and were in need of water, God said “Take the rod…speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water…” (Numbers 20:8). But Moses was a bit frustrated with the people and “…lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly” (Numbers 20:11). The Lord said: “…Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them”(Numbers 20:12).
From simple mistake to miscue or straight disobedience God still exacted a punishment. After all Moses had done, he lost his promise. Solomon had his life shortened, and Saul lost his position.
Being more obedient is perhaps something we all should think more about.
No comments:
Post a Comment