To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice

1Sa 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.

Our healing is thus represented as a special recompense for obedience.

If, therefore, we would please the Lord and have the reward of those who please Him, there is no service so acceptable to Him as our praise.

Let us ever meet Him with a glad and thankful heart and He will reflect it back in the health of our countenance and the buoyant life and springing health, which is but the echo of a joyful heart.

Further, thankfulness is the best preparation for faith.

Trust grows spontaneously in the praiseful heart.

Thankfulness takes the sunny side of the street and looks at the bright side of God, and it is only thus that we can ever trust Him.

Unbelief looks at our troubles and, of course, they seem like mountains, and faith is discouraged by the prospect.

A thankful disposition will always find some cause for cheer, and gloomy one will find a cloud in the brightest sky and a fly in the sweetest ointment.

Let us cultivate a spirit of cheerfulness, and we shall find so much in God and in our lives to encourage us that we shall have no room for doubt or fear.

~A. B. Simpson~