Better than Sacrifice

"Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice." 1 Samuel 15:22

The following devotional is by Charles Spurgeon. It reminds of a great song by Keith Green called "To Obey is Better than Sacrifice." Keith had a way of really stepping on your toes through his music. Take a look at some of the "right-to-the-point" lyrics:

To obey is better than sacrifice
I don't need your money I want your life
And I hear you say that I'm coming back soon
But you act like I'll never return

Well you speak of grace and My love so sweet
How you thrive on milk but reject my meat
And I can't help weeping at how it will be
If you keep on ignoring My Word.

Keep this idea in mind as you read the devotional below:

Saul had been commanded to slay utterly all the Amalakites and their cattle. Instead of doing so, he preserved the king, and suffered his people to take the best of the oxen and of the sheep. When called to account for this, he declared that he did it with a view of offering sacrifice to God; but Samuel met him at once with the assurance that sacrifices were no excuse for an act of direct rebellion. The sentence before us is worthy to be printed in letters of gold, and to be hung up before the eyes of the present idolatrous generation, who are very fond of the fineries of will-worship, but utterly neglect the laws of God. Be it ever in your remembrance, that to keep strictly in the path of your Savior's command is better than any outward form of religion; and to hearken to his precept with an attentive ear is better than to bring the fat of rams, or any other precious thing to lay upon the altar.

If you are failing to keep the least of Christ's commands to his disciples, I pray you be disobedient no longer. All the pretensions you make of attachment to your Master, and all the devout actions which you may perform, are no recompense for disobedience. "To obey," even in the slightest and smallest thing, "is better than sacrifice," however pompous. Talk not of Gregorian chants, sumptuous robes, incense, and banners; the first thing which God requires of his child is obedience; and though you should give your body to be burned, and all your goods to feed the poor, yet if you do not hearken to the Lord's precepts, all your formalities shall profit you nothing. It is a blessed thing to be teachable as a little child, but it is a much more blessed thing when one has been taught the lesson, to carry it out to the letter. How many adorn their temples and decorate their priests, but refuse to obey the word of the Lord! My soul, come not thou into their secret.

Here I Am

The following devotional is by David Good, from his devotional book--Captivated by the Heart of God.

Psalm 134 instructs us to lift up our hands in worship to the Lord. There is good reason to do this, and not just because the bible tells us to. There is something very powerful about the act of lifting our hands up in worship that when we understand it, we will find it hard to do anything else as we worship.

We have all heard the illustration that lifting hands is a sign of surrender. We are saying, "I give up. You've got me." That is part of it, as worship as an act of surrendering ourselves to God, not just our minds and emotions, but literally our bodies. But it goes much deeper than that and has a more profound meaning in worship. God is fascinated with our hands. Isaiah 49:16 tells us that he has "engraved" our names on the palm of his hand. Think about that for a moment. Do you remember your first girlfriend of boyfriend? Perhaps you were so infatuated with that person that you wrote their name on your hand. There was something endearing, a warm and fuzzy feeling about enjoying the privilege of writing their name on your palm so you could look at it. You might have even caught yourself just whispering that name. Now I'm not comparing God to a silly schoolgirl, but knowing that God has my name engraved on his palm, knowing that he loves me so much that he even loves to just whisper my name makes me understand just how deep, how wide, and how high his love actually is. To know that the Maker of the Universe wrote my name on the palm of his hand has huge implications for my life.

Now, let's take this a step further. Look at your palms. At birth he engraved something on your hands too. He has signed your name on your palms in the form of a finger print. Yours is unique to countless billions of people who have been born and will ever be born. You are the only one out of billions who has that imprint on your hands. We use our fingerprints to positively identify ourselves. God does too. When we lift our hands up to him in worship, we are in essence saying, "Here I am, Lord. It's me. I'm here to worship you with all that I am today." As He looks at the palms of your hands, he then looks at his hands and sees a perfect match and says, "I know you. I have your name right here on my hands too!" He then reaches down and takes our hand in his and lifts us up above all the cares, the problems and worries, all the frustration and pain of this world, and lifts us up into his realm. I remember the first time my wife and I held hands when we were dating. Suddenly I knew my life was going to be forever changed because I would never be alone after that. What a beautiful and powerful picture of worship.

A few years ago I wrote a song that captures the essence of this picture. I hope it blesses you and reminds you just how much he loves you and wants to embrace you and hold you by the hand today. As you worship him, go ahead and lift your hands to him. Here are the words:

Long before the world began,

my name was written in Your hand.

Before You hung the stars above, 

You held me in Your perfect love.

Long before the span of time,

I was always on Your mind.

Lord, I'll never understand

how You could love me as I am

And sent Your Son to die for me

so I could live eternally with You.

Here I am to worship You,

here I am to honor You.

Lord, my heart belongs to You,

now I give it back to You.

Here I am.

(words and music by David Good copyright 2007)

Lifted Hands

Therefore, I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument. (1 Timothy 2:8 HCSB)

In the previous post, we looked at some scriptures that encourage us to lift up our hands in worship. But the Word of God also encourages us to lift our hands in prayer as well.

Here are some scripture references to hands being lifted in prayer:

Lev. 9:22--Aaron lifted his hands to bless the people

Job 11:13

Ps. 28:2; 77:2; 119:48; 141:2

Isa. 1:15

Lam. 2:19

1 Tim. 2:8

Lk. 24:50--Jesus lifted his hands to bless his disciples

Lifted hands are a symbolic posture of prayer. Traditionally, the hands are raised to the level of the shoulders or head with the palms turned upward in a gesture of reception. The posture of lifted hands is sometimes called the orant, which comes from the Latin word orans, meaning "praying." It is one of the oldest traditional postures for Christian prayer. Drawings of it appear as early as A.D. 180 in the Callistus catacomb, and many ancient tombstones portray Christians in this posture.

(from the Praise and Worship Study Bible--Tyndale House Publishers)

With Hands Uplifted

Lift up your hands in the holy place and praise the Lord! (Psalm 134:2 HCSB)


"We stand and lift up our hands for the joy of the Lord is our strength"
"We give You glory, lifting up our hands and singing Holy"
"Never gonna stop, never gonna stop, lifting up my hands to You, lifting up my heart"


The above lyrics are from familiar praise songs that we sing in our worship services. Notice how they refer to "lifting hands" in worship. Some churches practice lifting hands in their worship services all the time. Others never practice it. I have been members of both types of churches. It is easy to feel awkward or "out of place" if you are used to a more reserved, traditional service with no hand-lifting, and you then attend a more charismatic type of service where just about everyone else is lifting their hands. It can feel equally as awkward in the reverse situation, although it doesn't need to be so.

But what does the Bible say about lifting hands in worship to our Lord? Let's take a look at a few scripture references to hands being lifted in worship:

Ps. 63:4
So I will praise You as long as I live; at Your name, I will lift up my hands. (HCSB)

Ps. 119:48
I will lift up my hands to Your commands, which I love, and will meditate on Your statutes. (HCSB)

Ps. 134:2
Lift up your hands in the holy place and praise the Lord! (HCSB)

Lam. 3:41
Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven: (HCSB)

Nehemiah 8:6
Ezrah praised the Lord, the great God, and with their hands uplifted all the people said, "Amen, Amen!" Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. (HCSB)

So it is clear that God's Word encourages us to lift our hands in worship. There are also many scriptures exhorting us to lift up our hands in prayer, but we will take a look at some of those in my next post.

My own experience is that it can be a meaningful part of our worship experience to lift our hands to the Lord. It can bring a deeper intimacy to your worship experience. Does that mean that if you don't lift your hands that you're not worshiping? Of course not! God is looking not on the outward appearance, but on the heart, seeking those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. At the same time, if you are lifting your hands in worship, you shouldn't feel awkward or "out of place" if those around you aren't. Don't worry if someone who is not really entering into worship gives you a strange look when you lift your hands. You're not worshiping for their approval but God's! We all need to remember that our worship is not for show, to impress those around us (that was one of the problems the Pharisees had), but it is an outpouring of the love and adoration we have for God alone!

Lord I Lift Your Name On High

What does it mean to lift God's name on high? It means to praise Him for who He is. The prophet Habakkuk said, "His brilliant splendor fills the heavens, and the earth is filled with His praise" (Hab. 3:3), which gives us more than enough reason to lift His name on high. Rick Founds, the composer of this song, praises God for coming to earth, for dying, and for rising again. Through this praise song, Founds retells, in simple, brief form, the story of salvation. As you meditate on this song, praise God for who He is and for what He has done for you.

Lord, I lift Your name on high.

Lord, I love to sing Your praises.

I'm so glad You're in my life.

I'm so glad You came to save us.

You came from heaven to earth to show the way.

From the earth to the cross, my debt to pay.

From the cross to the grave,

From the grave to the sky;

Lord, I lift Your name on high.

(from the Praise and Worship Study Bible--Tyndale House)

Melchizedek

There is no record of his father or mother or any of his ancestors--no beginning or end to his life. He remains a priest forever, resembling the Son of God. (Hebrews 7:3 NLT)

Here is another worship profile from the Praise and Worship Study Bible. This is a great study bible for those who want to learn more about biblical praise and worship.

Melchizedek

Some of us may remember the old television show The Lone Ranger. Each week this Western hero would fearlessly rescue someone in trouble. Then, astride his trusty steed, Silver, and accompanied by his faithful sidekick, Tonto, every kid's favorite lawman would gallop off into the sunset. Stunned but thankful townspeople would stare at the dissipating clouds of dust and ask the now-familiar question, "Who was that masked man?" That same kind of puzzling curiosity is often the response of believers after they have read about the Bible character named Melchizedek. Who was that obscure character? Where did he come from? And most important, what lessons can we learn from him?

Melchizedek the Worshiper

The name Melchizedek means "king of justice." He is identified in Genesis 14 as both the king and priest of Salem. We are introduced to him following Abram's military rescue of Lot from a coalition of local kings led by Ledorloamer. Melchizedek came to the victorious Abram, offered his tired troops a meal, and pronounced a blessing. Then, in a flash, this mysterious priest was gone.

Other than a few later references to him in Psalm 110 and Hebrews 5-7 (where he is compared to Christ, the ultimate King and Priest), Melchizedek totally disappears from the biblical record. Nevertheless, his brief appearance offers us insights about worship: First, he is an example of one who worships; and second, he illustrates some of the characteristics of Jesus Christ, the one who truly deserves our worship.

Learning from Melchizedek

Consider Melchizedek's example of worship. Although he was a secular king, he had a sacred faith in God Most High, the one true God. Consequently, he recognized the hand of God and the blessing of God in all the affairs of men--even in a nearby military skirmish. Melchizedek stopped whatever he was doing and went to celebrate with the faithful servants of God. He was quick to give God all the glory. Do we look at the world with that same perspective? Do we recognize God's sovereignty in all things and spontaneously gather with other worshipers to acknowledge it gladly? Or do we live primarily as secular men and women, relegating God and worship to a mere hour each Sunday morning?

Following the Example

Consider the characteristics that Melchizedek shared with Jesus Christ---the one who truly deserves our worship. As a priest, Melchizedek served as mediator between people and God. He pronounced blessings. He willingly received Abram's gift of a tithe. The example of Melchizedek should remind us , as blessed people, to give back to God a portion of what we have been given. Do we do that gladly and thankfully? We cannot worship God rightly as long as we are clutching our possessions tightly. These are the lessons of Melchizedek, the mysterious high priest in the life of Abram.