Sacrifice

Proverbs 21:2-3 – A person may think their own ways are right, but the Lord weighs the heart. To do what is right and just is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

Proverbs 24:12 – If you say, “But we knew nothing about this,” does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay everyone according to what they have done?

1 Samuel 15:22 – But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

Micah 6:6,8 – With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?...He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Psalm 119:121 – I have done what is righteous and just; do not leave me to my oppressors.

Application:

• ·         God knows even our thoughts and motives
• ·         Samuel does not suggest that sacrifice is unimportant but that it is acceptable only when brought with an attitude of obedience and devotion to the Lord.
• ·         Micah does not deny the desirability of sacrifices but shows that it does no good to offer them without obedience.
• ·         “Act justly…love mercy” is the kind of obedience God expects from His covenant people.
• ·         “What is righteous and just” was a phrase commonly used to sum up the whole will of God for moral action.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV