To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice

To Obey Is Better Than Sacrifice.  You might have used this line today thinking it was a Bible verse, “Ask forgiveness, not permission.” I know that I quoted this maxim for years before attempting to find it in the Bible. It’s not there. (By the way, neither is, “Cleanliness is next to godliness.”)

Experts who track the origins of quotations suggest that the first one to speak or write these words publicly might have been Rear Admiral Grace Hopper of the US Navy. But the saying likely predated her, too. Hopper’s full quote clearly rested in the context of operational expediency inside a large bureaucracy: “Do the right thing within the organization, whether they know it or not. That way you can help the people who work for you.” My paraphrase: don’t wait for specific approval from the organization to benefit the people in the organization.

“Ask forgiveness, not permission,” is sadly applied outside Hopper’s intent to renegades who justify their unconventional behavior that runs roughshod over people and boundaries to achieve personal agendas. Perhaps you can hear an echo of, “Ask forgiveness, not permission,” in another of our extra-biblical maxims, “You can’t make omelets without breaking eggs.” Such a rebellious spirit, however, the Bible condemns directly in at least five places, and indirectly in probably fifteen more.

The first direct condemnation of rebellion disguised as piety formed its enduring biblical principle. King Saul had directly disobeyed God’s command, yet he attempted to deflect his guilt by blaming the people and pretending a religious motive for his disobedience. “And Saul said to Samuel, ‘I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal’” (1 Sam. 15:20-21). Saul was implying that he had improved God’s command by editing it, but God was not fooled. “And Samuel said, ‘Has 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 listen than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has also rejected you from being king’” (1 Sam. 15:22-23).

Harkening back to Saul’s disobedience, this principle is repeated four more times in similar situations: Psalm 51:16, Hosea 6:6, Matthew 9:13, and Mark 12:7. But, it is categorically better to align with God’s word than to course-correct. God wants the heart, not the sacrifices.