Does the LORD so delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as in obedience to the command of the LORD?
Obedience is better than sacrifice,
and submission than the fat of rams.
We are called to obedience. It's tough, and we often have better ideas. When an area of obedience is a struggle for us we're really good at rationalizing our behavior in that area. We know that God says one thing, but we in a particular case we find reasons why that word should not apply or why there is something better we can do. On the other hand, if there is something we are good at, we tend to be inflexible about it. We tend to not consider the circumstances and specifics and just charge blindly ahead so that we can feel good about our good performance. Getting past all of this is no great secret. It is the result of obedience that does what God wants, for the reasons he wants, in the situations in which he wants it done.
Obedience means we need to hear from the one whom we obey. It may be time to fast and it may be time to feast. But if we do not know the whereabouts of the bridegroom we cannot be correct about this. We need to draw near to him.
Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.
But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast on that day.
Jesus gives us the new wine of the Holy Spirit. It cannot simply by injection-molded into our old paradigms without becoming a lifeless parody of itself. We are given new cloth for our baptismal robes. If we try to put it on anything else we'll find ourselves with holes and tears. Obedience means we cannot co-opt the gifts we are given to do with as we like. We must put them to the uses for which they are designed in the Kingdom. The bridegroom does not hold us accountable for areas in which we are ignorant. But he does offer to reveal himself to us, and we need to avail ourselves of that revelation.
I will correct you by drawing them up before your eyes.
He that offers praise as a sacrifice glorifies me;
and to him that goes the right way I will show the salvation of God.
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