I have found no other experience in life, so far, to be as sanctifying as motherhood. As a mom of two children, a 3-year-old girl and a little 10-month-old boy, I find myself in situations regularly thinking, why am I having to repeat myself again? or if they would just do what I told them to do…and then I think wow, maybe this is how God feels about me sometimes.
I love my children more than they could ever imagine. Honestly, it’s more like an obsession. No one is cuter, sweeter and more precious to me; yet no one can push my buttons and make me feel like I’m losing my mind as much as they can. The phrases that I am constantly repeating to my 3-year-old are “Obey Mommy…Did you obey?… Are you obeying?… You may not have a snack until you obey what I’ve already told you to do.” Obey, obey, obey. It’s what we train our children to do. We are commissioned to teach them, train them, lead them and model for them how to obey.
A couple days ago my daughter came up to me, after I had asked her several times to pick up her toys off of the living room floor and return them to her playroom, with a “wrapped” gift for me. She frequently likes to pretend it’s my birthday and she “wraps” a present for me…aka she rolls the toy tomato in the baby blanket and calls it a present. She always gasps when I unwrap it as if it’s a surprise for her, too. I know, so cute right?! Anyway, it was not my proudest parent moment when I snatched that present out of her hand, ignoring the sentiment behind it, and preceded to repeat myself yet again, “I have asked you several times to obey and you still have not obeyed me.” She responded with “But I brought you a present.”
And then it hit me like a ton of bricks. Selah offered me a gift, which was so thoughtful and sweet, and I did go back and tell her how grateful I was. I love her gifts. However, I am more concerned with her obedience. Obedience and gifts (or sacrifices) do not hold the same weight.
1 Samuel 15:22 says “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.”
If given the option, Selah would have chosen to “wrap” a gift for me instead of picking up her toys. Because while a gift did require her to give up something, it was much easier for her to give up something she chose to sacrifice rather than obeying instructions she didn’t want to follow.
Aren’t we the same way with God? We want to hear from Him, we want to be close with Him, so we offer Him all these sacrifices and gifts as a token of our love for Him but ignore what He has already asked us to do. Our obedience is the best representation of our love for Him and our trust in Him. I don’t know what this looks like in your life but let this be a reminder to you; while God loves the sacrifices and gifts we offer Him, He loves our obedience more.
What has God asked you to do? How can you obey what He has already spoken? Obedience is better than sacrifice. Modeling obedience for our children starts with how we obey God.