The Sacrifice Acceptable to Him

Obedience is better than sacrifice. // 1 Samuel 15:22

It is too easy for me to leap to conclusions in regards to what our Lord is asking of me. Oftentimes, self-imposed sacrifice seems the clear-cut path to holiness. I’ll give up this, I’ll do that . . . and on and on. Now, I don't mean to disparage sacrifice. What I do want to consider is this: What is the Lord asking of me in this moment?

A few years back, I had an experience that has been burned into my heart with my then eight-year-old daughter. I had planned to spend my afternoon car ride to school totally alone so that I could pray. I don’t often find silence unless I’m in the car and I had said to Jesus and to myself, This is the moment! I had arranged my schedule accordingly, and I was sure this devoted time of silence was exactly what Jesus was asking of me. As I got ready to leave, I was followed outside by my daughter, who asked if she could come along with me. I quickly shut her down. 

“This is my time to pray,” I told her. And I drove away.

The situation didn’t settle well with me and I later brought it up to my confessor. After recalling the scene, the response was simple and to the point: “Maybe our Lord was asking you to make that your prayer—time alone with your daughter.” Thank God for those words.

You see, I had contrived a very human plan for how God wanted me to spend my time, and I had become attached to it. Too attached to see our Lord offer me a new plan, and a better one. One that would have served my humility, and my flexibility, my cheerfulness, and my relationship with one of the little ones He had entrusted to me. 

“Obedience is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22).

Lord, help me to see when my sacrifice only serves myself and to respond in obedience when You call. Amen.