Neville Goddard on 1 Samuel 15:22-23 - Mystical Bible Interpretation

Read 1 Samuel 15 in context

Scripture Focus

22And Samuel said, Hath 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 hearken than the fat of rams.

23For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

1 Samuel 15:22-23

Biblical Context

The passage contrasts outward offerings with true obedience, warning that rebellion and stubbornness undermine one's royal calling.

Neville's Inner Vision

To Samuel’s warning you must understand that God is not a distant ritual but the I AM within you. The 'VOICE OF THE LORD' is the living directive that wakes your consciousness to its royal station. When you offer sacrifice without hearkening to that voice, you mistake method for relationship and you keep the outer world in a churn of longing and lack. Rebellion, like witchcraft, is the insistence of a separated self that will not yield to the present inspiration. Stubbornness is the fixed image that says, 'this is the way it must be, regardless of the inner revelation.' Saul lost his kingship because he refused to align his actions with inner knowing; the throne he seeks is not secured by ceremonies but by immediate, imaginative obedience. You are the king of your own domain when you act from the feeling that God speaks within you now, and what you imagine aligns with that truth. Trust the inner word, revise the scene in your mind, and declare, 'I am obedient to the voice of God within me, and my world follows.'

Practice This Now

Assume the state of obedience to the inner voice now; spend a minute imagining you have already heard and followed the inner directive, and feel the outward situation respond with harmony to that obedience. If distractions arise, revise the scene in your mind until the feeling of obedience returns.