to obey is better than sacrifice

So I've been reading out of 1 Samuel lately and it's amazing how much lack of knowledge I had about this stuff. I've never read anything between Exodus and Psalms.

I just read 1 Samuel 15 today and by the end I literally had to go back to the beginning and reread it. It was just that interesting. Saul has been anointed king for a good portion of time now and God is testing Saul's faithfulness in this chapter. He commands Saul to take his army and attack the wicked Amalekites, kill their king (Agag), and destroy ALL their animals. So Saul obeys...sort of. He kills most of them, captures Agag, and destroys all of the worthless animals. Samuel (the prophet) receives a word from the Lord. God pretty much says that He is grieving for making Saul king because he did not obey His command."

So Samuel confronts Saul the next day. Samuel goes to where Saul is and sees that Saul's all happy and rejoicing because he thinks he obeyed God. But Samuel pretty much says to him, "Oh? You obeyed God? Well why do I hear these sheep and cattle? I thought you were supposed to kill them." And Saul makes an excuse saying that they kept some animals to sacrifice to God.

So that's a good thing, right? They want to make a sacrifice to God.

Nope. Samuel replies saying that to obey is better than sacrifice. Because Saul has rejected the word of the Lord, God has rejected him as king.

So then Saul apologizes (sort of) and says, "Crap, I sinned...but it was all these people's fault because I was afraid of them so I gave in to them." He's sorry. But he's also making excuses.

From that day forward Saul was no longer even associated with Samuel or the kingship. God was sorry that he ever made him king. And Samuel even stood before God with the Amalekites' king Agag and killed him to finish the job! Wow.

When I read this story, I see a lot of parallels with my life. Oftentimes I will make all these plans even though God may have much better plans for me. But when I decide to do it my way, it's like saying, "No God, You have a good plan, but mine is BETTER." It's like this: if God wanted me to be a pastor but I wanted to be a doctor, I could make an excuse and say, "well if I'm a doctor I can give more money to the church and make more sacrifices to God, so that's a better option." But God would not be pleased with ANY of my offerings because I have rejected His plan for me.