Listen and obey.

Powerful passage for me this morning:

1 Samuel 15:17-23 (English Standard Version)

 ¹⁷And Samuel said, "Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. ¹⁸And the LORD sent you on a mission and said, 'Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.' ¹⁹Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?" ²⁰And 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. ²¹ 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." ²²And 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.
²³For 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."

[emphasis mine]

Lord please help me to stick to the mission that YOU have given me and not change it because I think I see a better plan.  Amen