Good morning everyone and welcome back to another morning with the masters where we devote

ourselves to the Lord daily with you. Good morning you guys. We are picking up with day two of our

finding strength and hard seasons devotional in the Bible app. There is a link to that in the

description of this podcast if you guys want to follow along with us and as always I'm going to

read the scripture and then Tori is going to read the Devo. Let's do it. The scripture is first

Samuel chapter 15 verses 22 and 23 and it says this, but Samuel replied, what is more pleasing to

the Lord? Your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen, obedience is

better than sacrifice and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. Rebellion is as sinful

as witchcraft and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command

of the Lord, he has rejected you as king. The devotional is titled Enduring Trials. It says,

Abraham was used to waiting. He waited 25 years for God to give him his son Isaac and he spent

most of his life wandering in foreign lands trusting that God would show him where to go next.

Imagine what Abraham must have been thinking when one day God asked for him to kill his son

he's waited years for. No one would have blamed Abraham if he said no or became bitter defensive

angry or fearful, but instead he chooses to live within the tension of trusting that God will

intervene into worship God even if he doesn't. Abraham even tells Isaac that God will provide for

himself a lamb as he prepares to sacrifice him. In the end, God does spare Isaac's life

and he reveals the reason for his odd request. He never wanted Isaac's death. He wanted Abraham's

complete obedience. Sacrifices matter to God when they're born out of obedience because true obedience

is a faith-filled act of sacrificial love. Trials test the extent of our obedience by revealing

what our faith is founded in. If we say we love God but we allow our circumstances to dictate

our responses to tough situations, then we have more faith in our circumstances than in our God.

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