'Obeying' in the Bible

Samuel said,“Has the Lord as great a delight in burnt offerings and sacrificesAs in obedience to the voice of the Lord?Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,And to heed [is better] than the fat of rams.

To those who honor and keep His covenant,And remember to do His commandments [imprinting His word on their hearts].

So that they might observe His preceptsAnd keep His laws [obediently accepting and honoring and valuing them].Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

Oh, that my ways may be establishedTo observe and keep Your statutes [obediently accepting and honoring them]!

Gimel.Deal bountifully with Your servant,That I may live and keep Your word [treasuring it and being guided by it day by day].

I will keep Your law continually,Forever and ever [writing Your precepts on my heart].

This has become mine [as the gift of Your grace],That I observe Your precepts [accepting them with loving obedience].

Before I was afflicted I went astray,But now I keep and honor Your word [with loving obedience].

According to Your steadfast love refresh me and give me life,So that I may keep and obey the testimony of Your mouth.

I understand more than the aged [who have not observed Your precepts],Because I have observed and kept Your precepts.

I have restrained my feet from every evil way,That I may keep Your word.

I have sworn [an oath] and have confirmed it,That I will keep Your righteous ordinances.

Leave me, you evildoers,That I may keep the commandments of my God [honoring and obeying them].

Pe.Your testimonies are wonderful;Therefore my soul keeps them.

Redeem me from the oppression of man;That I may keep Your precepts.

I cried to You; save meAnd I will keep Your testimonies.

I see the treacherous and loathe them,Because they do not respect Your law.

My soul keeps Your testimonies [hearing and accepting and obeying them];I love them greatly.

and if they do evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will reverse My decision concerning the good with which I had promised to bless them.

“So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, will be like a wise man [a far-sighted, practical, and sensible man] who built his house on the rock.

Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is My beloved Son. Listen to Him and obey Him!”

but just as it is written [in Scripture],“Things which the eye has not seen and the ear has not heard,And which have not entered the heart of man,All that God has prepared for those who love Him [who hold Him in affectionate reverence, who obey Him, and who gratefully recognize the benefits that He has bestowed].”

This is all I want to ask of you: did you receive the [Holy] Spirit as the result of obeying [the requirements of] the Law, or was it the result of hearing [the message of salvation and] with faith [believing it]?

Among these [unbelievers] we all once lived in the passions of our flesh [our behavior governed by the sinful self], indulging the desires of human nature [without the Holy Spirit] and [the impulses] of the [sinful] mind. We were, by nature, children [under the sentence] of [God’s] wrath, just like the rest [of mankind].

For if anyone only listens to the word without obeying it, he is like a man who looks very carefully at his natural face in a mirror;