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Daily Devotion: Proverbs 15:8

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Proverbs 15:8    "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight."

"The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD." There was one person who immediately came to my mind as I read across these words this morning. Do you remember King Saul? He was the first king of Israel. The people had come to Samuel and demanded a king so they could be like all the other nations. God forbid that we would ever want to be like other nations whose gods are of this world; yet that is exactly what they wanted. "We want someone to reign over us." Samuel tried to tell them that it was wrong, but they persisted. God gave them what they wanted. We should always be very careful what we ask for. We just might get it and then realize it wasn't the best for us after all. The reason I thought of King Saul was because his "sacrifices" were an abomination unto the Lord. God had told them to destroy everything and everyone of the Amalekites. "But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them..." (1 Samuel 15:9) What was their reasoning for keeping "all that was good"? First of all, the judgement of what was good was their own decision - not God's.  But in their minds, they had a purpose for keeping the "good".  Saul's reasoning that was stated to Samuel was, "... the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the LORD thy God." (1 Samuel 15:15)  Samuel told Saul concerning this wrong decision, "... Hath 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..." (1 Samuel 15:22)  The result of Saul's disobedience was that the kingdom would be taken from him and given to another. That other person was David, who was a man after God's own heart. We know David was not a perfect man, but he set a standard for most of his decisions. David's rule, for most of his decisions, was to first ask God to give him direction for his actions.  David understood that obeying God was most important in his life. He knew the importance of prayer in his daily actions. He understood, "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight."

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