Today's Favorite Verse: 1 Samuel 15:22

Today's Favorite Verse: 1 Samuel 15:22
"And Samuel said, 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, and to hearken than the fat of rams."

Samuel tells Saul the voice of the Lord. He is to smite Amalek and utterly destroy all they have and spare nothing. He is to slay both men, women, infants and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. What does Saul do?  He spares Agag the king of the Amalekites, and they destroy only the vile and refuse of the animals. All that they saw good they kept, and justified themselves by saying they would sacrifice to the Lord. This went against the commandment of God. Just because I think I want to do a good thing doesn't mean I can break the laws of God. The ends do not justify the means.

I pondered on how this fits my day. It would be like not paying a full tithing, holding back from the Lord. Then justifying myself and saying before the Bishop I had paid a full tithe in order to get a temple recommend. Then I go to the temple to do work for my deceased ancestors, when I was not worthy to do so. Thinking somehow the ends would justify the means. Saul was rejected by the Lord and told he was no longer to be king. For me if left unrepentant, I would lose my eternal exaltation. I would not become a king or queen, or priest of priestess in the eternal mansion of my Father.


Day 826