"The Lord anointed you king of Israel and sent you on a mission
........ Why then have you disobeyed the Lord? You have pounced on the spoil, thus displeasing the Lord.”

Note the response and insolent excuses of King Saul:
“I did indeed obey the Lord and fulfill the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought back Agag, and I have destroyed Amalek under the ban... "

Samuel would have nothing of this boyish nonsense:
"But Samuel said: “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. For a sin like divination is rebellion, and presumption is the crime of idolatry. Because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he, too, has rejected you as ruler.” (Samuel 15:16 - 23).

As St Paul teaches us, every piece of Scripture is written for our instruction and encouragement.

Monday 17 January 2022, 2nd Week in Ordinary Time is the feast of St Anthony, Abbot (251 - 356). Also called St Anthony the Great and St Anthony of the Desert. It is said that Anthony heard one day in the Gospel Reading at Mass: "If you want to be perfect, go and sell everything you have. Distribute the money to the poor. Then come and follow Me." St Anthony literally sold all he had, distributed the money to the poor and marched off to the desert where he lived a life of fasting and prayer for the rest of his life. He was 18 years old when he made this radical decision.

Our lead Scripture today is: "Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission than the fat of rams."
This is a word that the Church and Christians need to hear today and every day. Why? Because disobedience is rebellion against God. It is idolatry to prefer your will to the will of God. Here is the attitude and character of our Savior Jesus Christ:
“Sacrifice and offering you [Abba Father] did not desire, but a body you prepared for me [Jesus]; holocausts and sin offerings you took no delight in. Then I said, ‘As is written of me in the scroll, Behold, I come to do your will, O God." (Hebrews 10: 6 - 7).
The will of God became the food of Jesus.

Anything short of obedience is displeasing to Abba Father. The "will of God" seems to have disappeared from the language of the Church. In former times, it is the bench mark for all decisions and discernment. If we want God to guide and bless our decisions and projects, the will of God must return to our thinking and decisions. If not, we must be prepared to be treated like King Saul in our first Reading today:
"Because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he, too, has rejected you as ruler.”

O Christians, “Why do you recite my statutes, profess my covenant with your mouth, though you hate discipline and cast my words behind you?” (Psalm 50: 16 - 17.)

Daily Bible Verse @ SeekFirstcommunity.com

“Surely the Lord’s anointed is here before him.” But the Lord said to Samuel: “Do not judge from his [Eliab] appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. Not as man sees does God see, because he sees the appearance but the Lord looks into the heart.... .”  (Samuel 16: 1... 13).

Tuesday 18th January 2022, in the 2nd Week in Ordinary Time.

God does not choose His Anointed through a general election. Human wisdom is limited.
“The Lord has not chosen any one of these.” Then Samuel asked Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?” Jesse replied, “There is still the youngest, who is tending the sheep.”

"Samuel said to Jesse, “Send for him; we will not begin the sacrificial banquet until he arrives here.” Jesse sent and had the young man brought to them. He was ruddy, a youth handsome to behold and making a splendid appearance. The Lord said, “There—anoint him, for this is he!”

God chose David, the youngest and most insignificant son of Jesse and
Samuel "with the horn of oil in hand, anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and from that day on, the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David."

What do you think of the choice, the call and the anointing of David as King?

“Are these all the sons you have?” Jesse replied, “There is still the youngest, but he is tending the sheep.”   (1 Samuel 16: 11).

Note that David is the youngest of the 8 sons of Jesse.  Jesse at first presented Eliab, first son, with the appearance and manners of a General.  "But the Lord said to Samuel: Do not judge from his appearance or from his lofty stature, because I have rejected him. God does not see as a mortal, who sees the appearance. The Lord looks into the heart." (1 Samuel 16: 7).

"Then Samuel, with the horn of oil in hand, anointed him in the midst of his brothers, and from that day on, the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David."  (1 Samuel 16: 13).

God has found David and anointed Him as King of Israel. In spite of the human failings of David, God did not reject him. Instead He said of David:

"He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, the Rock of my salvation!.....
Forever I will maintain my mercy for him; my covenant with him stands firm. "  (Psalm 89: 27, 29).

David was especially chosen, called and anointed as a key stone in salvation history.

"When you come into My presence, pour out your heart before Me: all that you suffer, all that you question, all that you fear, give all to Me. This you do already when you pray the psalms. It was through the psalms that I poured out My own Heart to My Father, and in the prayers of David and the holy ones of Israel, My Father heard My voice and inclined to listen to the prayer of My Heart." (IN SINU JESU, Wednesday, December 3, 2014).

Daily Bible Verse @ Seekfirstcommunity.com