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.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
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Very distinctive approach of Saul to his relationship with God. He wants God's participation in his affairs, and not his participation in the affairs of God. Saul intends "to neutralize" with sacrifices God's possible dissatisfaction for his disobedience. A simple model on the whole: I give Him the fat of rams, He gives me what I want! We call this type of relationships theurgy, and the prophet Samuel is completely right, when he compares them with the witchcraft and the idolatry.
Does this concern us? We don’t indeed bring sacrifices. And we don’t practice the witchcraft, we don’t go to fortunetellers, we don’t worship idols. Yes, but the same logic acts in us, when we put candles in the church or read extracts of the Holy Scriptures, believing after that God will fulfill what we want from Him, instead of trying how to fulfill what He wants from us. Theurgy "is hidden" very profoundly in us, in our subconscience, and without a connection with Christ, without acceptance of the Holy Spirit, we cannot clean it from there.
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For Sa1 15:22-23
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.
23 For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.
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Saul's approach to his relationship with God is very characteristic. He wants God to take part in his affairs, not himself to take part in God's affairs. Saul intends to "neutralize" God's possible displeasure at his disobedience with sacrifices...
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Saul's approach to his relationship with God is very characteristic. He wants God to take part in his affairs, not himself to take part in God's affairs. Saul intends to "neutralize" God's possible displeasure at his disobedience with sacrifices. The result is a simple model: I give Him the fat of rams, He gives me what I want! This kind of relationship is called magical thinking, and the prophet Samuel is entirely right when he compares it with sorcery and idolatry.
Does this have anything to do with us? We do not offer sacrifices, and we do not practice sorcery, go to fortune-tellers, or worship idols. Yet the same logic works in us when we light candles in church or read passages from Scripture, believing that after this God will do what we want from Him, instead of seeking how to do what He wants from us.
Magical thinking is lodged very deep in us, in our subconscious, and without union with Christ, without receiving the Holy Spirit, it cannot be cleaned out from there.