Can You Hear the Sound of Sheep?
But Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears?”
(1 Samuel 15:14 NIV)
The phrase “can you hear the sound of sheep” is a friend’s clever and amusing way of calling his young daughter out when he knows she is guilty of partial obedience.
Much like Calvin of Calvin and Hobbes cartoon fame, she is a master at obeying the “letter of the law” but cleverly avoiding the “spirit of the law.” Calvin’s mom tells him to get in the bathtub when he comes home covered in mud from a fun day romping with Hobbes. Calvin does exactly that. He gets in the bath and lies down but doesn’t turn the faucet on as he hates having to bathe. Technically, he has done exactly what his mother commanded. However, being wise in the ways of her mischievous son, she tells him she can’t hear the sound of water. Turn the faucet on!
My friend read the Biblical story of Saul to his daughter to explain that, in God’s eyes, partial obedience is, in fact, disobedience. When Saul went to battle with the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15), God commanded that everything - people and livestock - be destroyed. But Saul was greedy and wanted the animals for himself. So, he partially obeyed God’s instructions by keeping some of them. When Samuel arrived on the scene, he heard the sound of sheep bleating and cattle lowing and immediately knew Saul had been disobedient. God made His opinion on the matter clear.
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 (1 Samuel 15:22 NIV).
Before we pass judgement on Saul, we should remember that we often do the same thing. We know that God has told us to do something but because it is going to cost us in some way, make us uncomfortable, or cause us to lose face, we avoid full obedience.
God wants obedience not excuses. He knows far better than us what is the right course for our lives. To disobey him and think we somehow know better than him is foolish, arrogant, and potentially dangerous.
The moral of the lesson is that God views partial obedience as disobedience. There are no half measures with Him. You either obey fully or you are sinning.
King David got it.
"You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings, my sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, you, God will not despise” (Psalm 52:16-17).
So, if you have more, or less followed God’s instructions, but have left out the bits that are hard or uncomfortable, pause and listen – you may hear the sound of sheep.
