Today’s AMI QT Devotional is provided by Lily Jang (in corroboration with Pastor Ryun) who attends Grace Covenant Church in Philadelphia. Lily, a graduate of Emory University and teacher by profession, spent a year in Pekanbaru, Indonesia, from 2011-12.
DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS FOR TODAY
A Lesson in Obedience
1 Samuel 15:22-3
But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”
Many of us, millennials in particular, too easily pull ourselves toward achieving a performance-based faith. It seems King Saul was too, since he was concerned more about actions to gain the approval of his soldiers (1 Sam. 15:24) rather than obeying God. Saul was oblivious to what God wants from us: our obedience, not performance.
I learned an important lesson on obedience in July of 2016 when I took a step of faith to move down to Philadelphia from Boston. It was a decision that scared me in many ways—a step that had been in the making for years. But when I finally made the plunge, I learned two things. First, as I struggled with doubt, I learned that obedience wasn’t about having all my ducks in a row: having a safety plan, having job or financial security in Philadelphia to justify obedience, and putting hope in prophetic words I was given or what I thought I had heard from the Lord. Rather, I learned that obedience in faith was about trusting and leaning into God’s character, that He is good and that He loves me.
Second, I learned that we have the freedom to obey God’s commands out of joy and love.
The beginning walk of my faith was characterized by reluctant and obligatory obedience, and it was no different when it came to moving to Philadelphia. However, God was not content to have me drag my feet wherever He called me to go; He desired to show me a better way. My reluctant obedience had conceived questions of doubt that arose out of deep sadness and fear. In the midst of this, I desperately asked the Lord for confirmation: “If You want me to go to Philly, can You just give me a ‘yes’?” What He gave me instead was a simple question: “Will you love me?”
In 1 Samuel 15:22, we catch a glimpse of the depth of love that is involved in obedience—a foreshadowing to come of the depth of love that is exemplified through the perfect obedience of Christ, obedience that was willful and joyful. Saul’s offering of sacrifice didn’t suffice, partly because it was never meant to; but through the ultimate and fulfilling sacrifice of Christ’s obedience, we are freed to obey as in His example, to obey in joy as an expression of our love for Him.
Prayer: Father, I praise and worship You this morning. I thank You for the marvelous plan You have for my life (Eph. 2:10). Please help me to obey You whenever You nudge me towards a direction that I would rather not take. Help me to trust in your goodness and character. Amen.
Bible Reading for Today: Joshua 24
Lunch Break Study
(Prepared by P. Ryun)
Read 1 Samuel 13:11-13b: Samuel said, “What have you done?” And Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, 12 I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.’ So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering.” 13 And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you . . .”
1 Samuel 15:20-1, 24: And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal.” Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice.”
Questions to Consider
- Described here are two separate occasions in which Saul seemingly did good things (that is, he performed well), yet ultimately he disobeyed God. What happened?
- What factor led King Saul to disobey God?
- What other factors often prompt us to disobey God? Has God been telling you to do something that you would rather not do? What is keeping you from obeying Him?
Notes
- In 1 Samuel 13, Saul, a Benjamite, sacrificed a burnt offering to God (not to some idol) before combating the Philistines. In doing so, he disobeyed God’s mandate that only the family of Aaron could offer sacrifices (Num. 3:2). In 1 Samuel 15, even though God commanded Saul to wipe out the entire Amalekite population and animals, he kept the king and best of the animals.
- In the first instance, Saul’s disobedience stemmed from his fear that Israel would lose the battle against the Philistines if more soldiers ran away out of fear (1 Sam. 13:6-7). In the second incidence, Saul disobeyed because he cared more about what his soldiers thought of him as their leader than what God thought of him as His servant.
- One flip side of fear behind our disobedience is our excessive love of the security and predictability of our present lifestyle. And what keeps us from obeying God in our relationships (e.g., forgiveness) is almost always pride and self-justification.
Evening Reflection
Did you know that there is a symbiotic relationship between obedience and suffering? Hebrews 5:8 says, “Although [Jesus] was a son, He learned obedience through what He suffered.” Are you going through difficult situations at the moment? Pray about how that experience can lead to obeying the Lord more fully from here on out. Give it a thought, and a prayer.
The AMI QT Devotionals July 17-23 are written by David Son, who serves as the college pastor at Symphony Church in Boston. David, a graduate of UC Berkeley (B.S.) and Gordon-Conwell Seminary (M.Div.), is married to Grace who teaches at a public school.
When I was a single man, my singleness was sometimes a source of discouragement and frustration. There was one particular season that was especially hard – I had confessed my feelings of attraction to a friend, and she rejected me. The next few months, I found it difficult to sing praise songs. Most of the time I draw energy from those praising God around me, but during that time, seeing them discouraged me even more, because I felt even more disconnected from the Lord in comparison to those around me.
In our passage today, Paul articulates one of the most frustrating realities of our human condition: the tendency to turn back to old habits. I had a powerful encounter with Jesus during the summer of my freshman year of college. It was the turning point of my life, when I decided to live my life for God.
Back in 2010, I attended a mission trip in rural China with a small team, including the head pastor of the church I was attending at that time. It was a humbling experience to meet the over 50 Chinese house church leaders who had gathered to receive training from our team. Our team consisted of a few college students (I had just graduated from college), and our lead pastor, yet there we were in rural China, teaching and equipping underground church leaders who were old enough to be my grandparents and had withstood the hardships of government persecution. Needless to say, our lead pastor did most of the teaching/preaching.
My grandmother lives in the rural countryside of Korea. Miles of rice paddies lie in each direction of her humble home. During high school, I had the opportunity to live with her for the better part of a week. I was thrilled, because on the first evening, she cooked the most amazing Korean food for me: rice, kimchi, soup, and fish. I went to bed utterly satisfied. The next morning I woke up to a breakfast table that looked strangely familiar: rice, kimchi, soup, and fish. But it wasn’t leftovers; it was the same food, cooked fresh. Slightly confused, I shrugged it off because the meal was certainly good enough to enjoy for a second time. And then lunch rolled around, and believe it or not, it was the same food. Cooked fresh. Again! Your suspicions are correct, nearly every single meal at my grandmother’s house consisted of virtually the exact same things. However, I did not complain, for two reasons: First of all, the food was absolutely delicious. But secondly, I realized that this is how my grandmother eats all the time! This woman had learned to enjoy and savor the same meal, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, day after day, for decades.
Last year, there was a huge debacle concerning Epi-pens. If you’re unfamiliar with the product, it’s a handheld device that is used to inject 0.3 milligrams of epinephrine into someone who is having a severe allergic reaction or going through anaphylactic shock. The reason Epi-pens were in the news was because of the outrageous jump in price. What used to be only $50 suddenly skyrocketed to $400 per Epi-pen.
A little while ago, I was gifted an Amazon Echo named Alexa. One of the most interesting features of this device is the “Casual Compliment Machine.” Basically when you enable this feature, you can call upon Alexa to spew all sorts of kind words to you. I haven’t tried this feature out yet, but I don’t doubt that aside from the initial hilarity, it could marginally increase my self-esteem.
Yesterday, as we covered the above passage in Exodus, I mentioned the American proverb “The squeaky wheel gets the grease”, meaning that the loudest cries best attract help. In the passage, the Israelites cried out loudly–in their prayers, in their groaning, in their desperation for God to return their freedom.
Do you know the saying “The squeaky wheel gets the grease?” According to Wikipedia, it’s a proverb used to “convey the idea that the most noticeable (or loudest) problems are the ones most likely to get attention.”