[stextbox id=”custom”](This post is from “The Will Of God” series and is a continuation of the article I wrote a couple weeks back called, The Idolatry In Not Hacking Agag Into A Thousand Pieces which centered on 1 Samuel 15 regarding King Saul’s disobedience, the Amalakite King, Agag, and God’s prophet, Samuel. It will be helpful to go back and review that article first.)[/stextbox]
To be an Old Testament prophet of the LORD is not an office I would have envied. That was a tough ministry. It seems the prophets were always delivering bad news and the recipients rarely ever wanted to hear what God’s man had to say. In fact, most people probably pulled their shutters closed whenever a legitimate prophet of the LORD strolled into town. For if the prophet was not delivering grim news for a particular sinner, it usually meant the city itself was going up in flames soon.
No, when a legitimate prophet of the LORD wanted to meet with you, it was not often that he was stopping by for biscuits and tea. And Agag should have known this.
Once Samuel accompanied King Saul back to the place of worship (so that Saul could save face before the elders and the people of Israel), Samuel then returned to deal with yet another wicked king. Upon his return Samuel said, “Bring me Agag, the king of the Amalakites.” I assume that Samuel was a bit flustered that day having to deal with two wicked kings back-to-back. He had already delivered a harsh condemnation toIsrael’s king, and now he was planning a radical act of worship at the expense of one of Israel’s all-time enemies.
One thing worthy of notice from this passage is that just because one person neglects their appointed ministry does not mean it is acceptable for others to allow that duty to go unfulfilled altogether. Samuel knew this all too well and so he summoned the Amalakite king in order to finish what Saul had left undone.
Agag presumed he had escaped the sentence of death, for he entered Samuel’s presence “cheerfully,” saying, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” On the contrary, however, the moment of divine judgment had arrived. Answering Agag’s foolish presumption, Samuel replied, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.”
With that brief exchange, Samuel began to worship the LORD.
With a sword in hand, the prophet rushed upon Agag and “Samuel hewed Agag to pieces before the LORD at Gilgal” (1 Samuel 15:33; italics mine). The text is bloody, graphic and violent, yet there is also a sense of goodness to it because divine justice was finally being served. At last, someone was being wholly obedient to the revealed will of almighty God.
Notice the words, “before the LORD.” As Samuel was hacking Agag’s flesh to pieces, he was worshipping God!
Do not miss this blessed truth.
As the prophet of the LORD severed each body part and the Amalakite’s blood soaked into the ground, Samuel worshipped God. This is a tremendously explicit passage of Scripture, yet it potently describes how God expects to be worshipped during every facet of life, even when doing so is uncomfortable, inconvenient, or downright bloody.
As Samuel’s sword rained down over and over again, the LORD was worshipped. Not through the violence or even in the death of one of His creatures, but in the fact that Samuel cared enough to carry out the finer details of God’s command to King Saul.
This is vitally important, and has tremendous relevance for us—even today—regarding God’s revealed will for Great Commission Discipleship.
Tools Don’t Talk Back To Their Maker
American Christians would do well to meditate often upon the actions and attitudes of both King Saul and Samuel the prophet. God has given each of us today a mission to proclaim the gospel to every creature on earth—both saved and unsaved. Even to an Amalakite, if you could find one. We have not been commissioned to slay the enemy but to love our enemy. We are not allowed to hate our enemies but to loathe the sin that enslaves our enemies.
Our mission is not to hack sinners to pieces but—by God’s grace—to purge unbelief from planet earth.
God is dishonored when we do not obey His commands with relentless and radical allegiance, yet there is always someone else the Lord can use if we prove negligent in our assigned ministry. He has many hammers to choose from, after all.
The Lord can raise up children of Abraham from stones, and “the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His” (2 Chronicles 16:9). If you choose not to honor God by being obedient to His revealed will of Great Commission Discipleship, He will be dishonored and you will reap the consequence. Nevertheless, the Lord will not allow His plan to be thwarted. He will appoint another to succeed where you or I have committed the rebellious sin of omission.
Like one New Testament writer penned, “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin” (James 4:17).
The Lord is sovereign and His plans will never be frustrated. Remember Joseph? Joseph responded to the treachery of his wicked brothers by saying, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result…” (Genesis 50:20; italics mine).
When God was delivering Israel during the time which Deborah judged the nation, the opportunity for national glory was given into the hands of Barak, the commander of Israel’s army. Barak flinched, however, wanting to place conditions on the extent of his obedience. He said to Deborah, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go” (Judges 4:8). Rebuking his stupidity, Deborah replied, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hands of a woman” (Judges 4:9).
That woman ended up being Jael, who drove a tent-peg into Sisera’s head.
God accomplished His sovereign plan despite the immoral actions of Joseph’s kin. God accomplished His sovereign plan despite Barak’s military foolishness. And God accomplished His sovereign plan without King Saul’s faithfulness, as well. That is something you and I need to remember today.
God does not need you and He doesn’t need me, either. The Lord’s plans will never be spoiled due to the negligent frailty of sinful men and women, even if they are his beloved children. There is always another who will step up to the plate and be wholly consecrated to perform all the Lord’s work.
Is that someone you? Are you willing to be radically and wholly consecrated to the Lord, performing all that He commands you to do? Are you really interested in knowing God’s will for your life, or are you having second thoughts?
In the book of Esther, we read about one of the Amalakite’s descendents (due to King Saul’s disobedience in 1 Samuel 15, incidentally) named, “Haman, the son of Hammedatha the Agagite” (Esther 3:1). Haman became a thorn inIsrael’s side, concocting a murderous plan to annihilate every Jew once and for all. If not for the sovereign, covenant love that God has for His people, Haman no doubt would have succeeded.
When the fateful decree was issued that the lives and property of the Jews were free game to any and all, Esther’s older cousin, Mordecai, heard about it and covered himself in sackcloth, crying out to the LORD. Sending word to Queen Esther, he said, “Do not imagine that you in the king’s palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:13-14; italics mine).
What about you? Have you been placed by God where you are “for such a time as this?” God will certainly bring about all His plans to fruition, but woe to that person who puts the patience of the LORD to the test.
I appreciate very much what J.C. Ryle had to say about the worthlessness of a shallow Christianity. He wrote, “There is a common, worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have enough—a cheap Christianity which offends nobody, and requires no sacrifice—which costs nothing, and is worth nothing.”
Frankly, a religion worth anything is a religion worth everything. If Christ means anything at all to you, He should mean absolutely everything to you.
* Photo credit: Fr. Stephen, MSC (Creative Commons)
This is excellent, Charles!