Miles Militis

Words of Encouragement

I was doing my devos today and came across this passage and was encouraged by it (promise you it won’t be long and it’ll be encouraging):

[ “But I did obey the LORD,” Saul said. “I went on the mission the LORD assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the LORD your God at Gilgal.” But Samuel replied: “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the LORD? TO obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.” ] (1 Samuel 15: 20-23 NIV)
brothers and sisters, this is so true and it rings so loud in our own life, doesn’t it? We often times (like Saul) want to do things for the Lord in our own way, and often times we do it with the wrong heart or wrong intentions. In this case, God sees Saul’s heart and knows he took the cattles and sheeps for the wrong intention (remember God sees our heart and knows our heart). But simply put, God wants us to just OBEY him and do things HIS way. In a way, it’s not about the service, but the servant himself/herself and the servitude he/she carries. Saul sacrificed burnt offerings and stuff (which seems good and pleasing), but refused to obey God’s commands. 
So be encouraged and let’s strive to simply OBEY God and not put all our efforts trying to please the LORD in our own ways.

-danny liu