God Does Not Want Sacrifice
Throughout scripture, we see that God wants our heart, not blood and an apology. He repeatedly emphasizes that he doesn’t even want sacrifices, really. One of my favorite passages about this is found in 2 Kings in the story of Manasseh. In the Old Testament we see that a wicked king prays for forgiveness with no way to offer a sacrifice. The Old Testament God, who so many dismiss as an evil, jealous, wrathful child, forgives and redeems him in a way that reminds me that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever!
A couple of examples, in Isaiah 1:13 Got says directly, “Stop bringing meaningless offerings!” This mirrors perfectly the idea found in Psalms 51: God laments over how people sin and then sacrifice on repeat, never actually changing their ways.
Psalms 51:17
My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.
Likewise, Jeremiah 7 shows God becoming annoyed by worthless sacrifices. He reminds them that he didn’t just give commandments about sacrifice but also called them to love Him!
Jeremiah 7:21-23
²¹ “‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! ²² For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, ²³ but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.
As we see the parallel of marriage all through the bible, let’s use it here. Would you rather a wife who does love you and she’s “well meaning” but never really listens to or gets to know you? How about one who knows everything about you but who doesn’t really love you for you, only your money? How about one who actually loves you and who listens, knows, and does what you ask of them? Obviously, you want the wife who loves you, understands you, and does as you like (a.k.a. “obeys,” though that carries baggage in today’s world).
God tells us that his “613 Commandments” are not hard: they are telling you his heart and showing you how to live a righteous life - a life that draws him near to you. If I tell my wife I love coffee and hate baked chicken, I am right to be annoyed when she dumps all my coffee on the ground and then bakes a chicken to say sorry. How much more does God have the right to be annoyed when we intentionally sin and then apologize with hollow words in a hurried prayer that gets repeated every night over dinner? He just wants us to listen from the start, not ignore him and then say “sorry.”