1 Samuel 15:22 But Samuel replied, "What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams."
How many times have each of us decided we know more than God, and better than God for our lives? Sadly, many of us will only do part of what God instructs us to do instead of what He has fully instructed us to do. Instructions can come from hearing and reading, but what about a lifestyle of obedience that happens when we strive to not only hear, and read, but also live obediently? It often proves challenging to follow each and every Word God instructs for our lives in this fast-paced, electronically driven, social network entrenched, human touch*less* society, but whom and what we follow determines our output and outcome.
A special person in my life, always says, "God does not yell!" In other words, God is not in competition with FB, Twitter, smart phones, life, work, and whatever else may occupy and command our undivided attention. God is not going to scream above the business of our life to get our attention when our focus should remain completely fixated on Him. The Hebrew word for hear is shama. The word translated also means to listen or to obey. When we take this simple word and internalize it, it is easy to see how hearing, listening, and obedience become a lifestyle of "doing".
Recently, I have been giving more attention to a certain areas of my life. *Disclaimer* The Spirit spoke to me CLEARLY about this same situation several months ago and laid it out bare saying , “THIS is why you are where you are!” Mind you, I kept saying to myself, I wonder why this situation is the way it is...Again, the Spirit, a little stronger said, “Again, Precious, THIS is why, you are in this place.” It was not until a person, a living breathing, full-blooded person TOLD me in a not so nice way that I became aware that I had been directly disobedient to God. That broke my heart!!! I do not desire to be the person James labels a "mere hearer" and deceive myself.
Disobedience BLOCKS God's best in our lives. Period! What if Abraham was disobedient at any point in what God told instructed him to do? What if Jesus failed to do what He KNEW was His primary assignment? Sacrifices lead to death, but obedience leads to life. Has God whispered something into your spirit that He has given you instructions on? I recommend you do it, and without further delay, because obedience always leads to God's best. If you are unsure of what the first instruction are, how appropriate the acronym for the Bible is "Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth."
Jeremiah 7:23
Matthew 7:24
James 4:4
James 1:22
