Listen up
Series: Like you and me | Bible text: 1 Samuel 15:22
Samuel was a priest, prophet and centurion in Israel about 3000 years ago. In his younger years he learned to listen to and obey God. He expressed his experience in the following words to King Saul: «Obeying him is much better than offering a sacrifice, listening to him is better than the fat of rams» (1 Samuel 15:22). What is a life of listening and obeying as opposed to a life of sacrifice?
The outstanding importance of hearing is already a miracle in purely biological terms: when the little cell bundle of a human being is seven or eight days old, the first beginnings of the ears already appear – microscopically small. At four and a half months, halfway through pregnancy, hearing is already fully developed. It is the only part of our body that reaches its final size before birth. The bone that surrounds the hearing organ – called the petrous bone – is by far the hardest bone structure in the human body. And when a person dies, hearing is one of the last functioning systems of the body. How precious hearing must be! Fourteen times (!) the Bible contains the sentence: «He who has ears to hear, let him hear.» Listening is crucial to the Christian faith. It is the first door on the way to powerful breakthroughs in life. Samuel dealt with this in his life. Two protagonists of his time offer us visual lessons.
Saul brings sacrifices
Through the prophet Samuel, Saul was commissioned by God to execute the ban on the Amalekites. Saul actually fulfilled this order quite well, perhaps too 99%, but he spared the king of the Amalekites and the best sheep and cattle. He did not do this for personal gain, but to sacrifice with them to the LORD in Gilgal (1Samuel 15:21). Quite pious motives! The reason for this action is explained by Saul himself: «[…] I did not follow your instructions and the command of the Lord, because I was afraid of the people and did what they demanded»(1 Samuel 15:24 NL). Saul wanted to please the people.
Because we see the end of the story from the Bible and get deeper insight, we know that Saul was not obedient here and we find it bad. From the perspective of a contemporary who could not see behind the scenes, Saul’s actions seemed quite good and godly. Of course, he was not completely obedient – but only in one percent. At least he gave his one per cent disobedience a pious veneer. The best sheep and oxen are to be sacrificed to the LORD. That would be like evading taxes to support a Christian project.
God saw it differently. For him, this disobedience was the last straw and he rejected Saul as king over the people of Israel (1 Samuel 15:26). Samuel justifies this harsh decision: «Obeying Him is much better than offering a sacrifice, Listening to him is better than the fat of rams»(1 Samuel 15:22 NL).
Saul reduced his relationship with God to the observance of rituals, such as sacrifice. In addition, he did not take obedience so seriously in his daily life. For him, it was at least as important to look good before people as it was before God. Relationship with God and everyday life were two different things for Saul. Sacrifice had the higher value than obedience. It was not what God wanted.
David is obedient
Long after David was anointed king by Samuel, he finally received the royal crown officially. The Philistines found out about this and immediately set up battle in the plain of Refaim. David asked the LORD if he should go against the Philistines and he would be victorious. On the «Go» from God, David went against the Philistines and defeated them. He called the place of victory Baal-Perazim (= Lord of breakthroughs), because it was the Lord who had given the breakthrough.
The Philistines had not yet had enough and therefore lined up again on the same plain a short time later. Same place, same situation, same parties – the same in green… But not for David: he asked the Lord again what to do. And this time the Lord had come up with a different tactic. David also kept to this unconventional order. With his whole army he gave the Philistines a wide berth, waited for the rustling in the Baka trees and then attacked from behind. «That’s when David did it, like the LORD had commanded him. And he smote the Philistines from Gibeon until they come to Gezer.» (2Samuel 5:25; Elb).
Why was David a man after God’s own heart? He listened to God and obeyed. The Greek word for listen is akouo, for obey stands in each case hypakouo. Hypakouo means literally upwards listen. David was one who listened upwards, in the spirit of Samuel, who a few years earlier answered God: «Say, your servant hears»(1 Samuel 3:10 NL). David did, like the Lord had commanded him. Right; not only whatbut also like the Lord commanded! David’s one hundred percent obedience runs like a red thread through his story. The relationship with God permeated his everyday life, it was not something additional. He listened and obeyed. Obedience was more important to him than sacrifice. David’s reverence for God was greater than his fear of man (cf. 2 Samuel 6:20ff). The condition for this life of obedience was that the Spirit of God had come upon David (1 Samuel 16:13). Saul, however, had the same prerequisites (1 Samuel 10:10). Obviously there is no automatism. But, one thing is certain, if we want to hear God and experience breakthroughs, the Holy Spirit is urgently needed. A person is given this when he opens the door of his heart when Jesus knocks. Are you already living this relationship of trust with God?
Are you Saul or David?
Do you live your life as a Christian according to the Saul or David concept? From the outside, both faith concepts look quite similar – perhaps even with slight advantages for the type Saul. He impresses with many pious activities. His agenda is full of them. That is why he is difficult to expose.
I will now try to describe the life of a Christian – I will call him Saulwho lives in this system: For a Saul sacrifice comes before obedience. Sacrifice means committing a religious act to gain God’s favour. This religious act can be participation in the congregation, attending church services, donating, reading the Bible, prayer, diakonia – just everything that one does as a Christian. Even wanting to provoke miracles, for example by praying for the sick, can be a sacrifice. One then believes that one only has to plead correctly and fervently enough. In the end, however, one only wants to achieve breakthroughs on one’s own.
The impulse for a sacrifice does not come from God, but arises from habit, religious socialisation (one knows what one does or does not do as a Christian), a guilty conscience or a longing for God. So man takes the initiative and wants to achieve something with God with basically good things. In this way, however, faith in Jesus Christ becomes a religion.
In the life of a Sauls there is a split between faith and everyday life. The relationship with God is an additional programme to the other areas of life. It can consistently be that this programme is quite intense and time-consuming, Saul thus has a high standing in the community. The problem is that faith is reduced to the observance of rituals (sacrifices) and has little or nothing to do with everyday life. Like, for example, the weekly visit to the sauna on Saturday evening. Yet lives Saul his everyday life quite Christian by and large. The likelihood is great that he will not be so exact in the last percentages and will tolerate things in life that he knows quite well are not according to the will of God. Because he wants to please people, the influence of their voice on his life is stronger than the voice of God.
Saul will hardly notice when God withdraws from his life, because he does not depend on God’s speaking at all. His programme works well even without God. He experiences faith in Jesus Christ as rather boring, well-behaved, rather exhausting and not very victorious. Deep in his heart he feels an unquenched longing for adventure, challenge, joy, peace and victory.
Quite different the type David: The theme of his life is hypakouo. He is a Up Hearing. A David knows that obedience is much better than sacrifice. Jesus sacrificed himself for us on the cross – vicariously, we have been freed from sacrifice once and for all! It is no longer possible to earn even a little something from God through one’s own actions. In view of this fact, there is now only one true and proper worship that is pleasing to God, namely «to commit your whole life to God. It should be a living and holy sacrifice – a sacrifice in which God takes pleasure.» (Romans 12:1 NL). No acts of sacrifice, but devotion is required. This means giving all one’s own desires, goals and ideas to God and obeying Him wholeheartedly.
In contrast to sacrifice, the impulse for obedience always comes from God. He is the agent, the subject. Man is the object. David can only be obedient because God acts or speaks. Therefore, obedience is not a contradiction to grace, but a component of it. So everything comes from God; the orders, the concrete work instructions and also the power to do them. Obedience is the door to a life in the flow of grace! «Then David did as the LORD had commanded him.…» (2Samuel 5:25 Elb). For God, how we do something is more important than what we do.
In the life of a David’s there is no splitting of everyday life and faith. Everyday life is permeated and encompassed by the relationship with God. King David pursued one goal during his reign: he wanted to bring the Ark of the Covenant to the capital and build a house there for God. God belongs in the centre, the relationship with him should be the starting point and goal of our whole life. If God were to withdraw from his life for even one day, it would not go unnoticed. For without God, a David is not capable of acting; he would not know when, how and what to do. The relationship with God is like the oxygen of life for him. David was not perfect, sometimes he failed and God had to intervene (2Samuel 11+12; 24). There we have a great advantage, we are allowed to make mistakes and don’t even have to bear the punishment ourselves! Jesus did this for us.
Only those who respect God and have reverence for Him will hear upwards. Someone once said: «You will serve what you fear. If you fear God, you will serve Him. If you fear people, you will serve people. You have to decide.«David chose the fear of God.
For a David life with God is one adventure, no two days are the same, because there are no automatisms (same place, same situation, same parties ≠ same tactics!!!). Sometimes a David will also have to follow unconventional paths that are not understood by fellow Christians, and often Davids are not recognised in their congregations as people after God’s own heart. His daily life is full of breakthroughs that the Lord creates (Baal-Perazim). In obedience, he lives a life much greater than himself.
The linchpin of living in obedience and thus in the grace of God is listening. David not only hears, but he also obeys. He listens upwards because he sees himself as a servant of God. A listener can only be one who is in the habit of spending non-functional time with God. This means simply sitting on the lap of the heavenly Father and becoming quiet, without impressing God and waiting for a result. (Otherwise it would be another sacrifice!) The Psalms bear witness to how David simply shared his everyday life, his victories and defeats, his elations and depressions, with God.
It is worthwhile to become more and more David to become. On the surface, it is the challenging path, but it is the one that God is on. It is the path of grace and therefore, in the end, the much easier path; and, what’s more, it is peppered with exciting adventures and many spiritual breakthroughs.
Possible questions for the small groups
- What actions in your life could be sacrifices to make a difference with God?
- Are there things in your life that you tolerate even though you know they are not right before God?
- «If you fear God, you will serve Him. If you fear man, you will serve man.» How do you experience this in your life?
- Imagine God withdrawing from your life. How long would it take you to realise it?
- What does it mean for you Listen up? What does that look like in practice?
