1 Sam.15:17 NLT And Samuel told him, “Although you may think little of yourself, are you not the leader of the tribes of Israel? The LORD has anointed you king of Israel.
There is a problem of not viewing ourselves as God views us. This causes us to constantly do things to seek to ingratiate the people to us and to seek to establish ourselves and our names, whereas that is unimportant and irrelevant. Ignorance concerning who we are often moves us to priorities that are contrary to the divine mandates. We become people pleasers instead of God pleasers. We do not recognize the ramifications of the things that we do and how they violate the anointing and calling of God and his purpose in our lives. Ultimately they remove us from being able to fulfill the divine mandate and cause God to reject us, because we have devalued the calling of God upon our lives, which is the greatest treasure we can possess. When this is not held in its correct place we forget that the one who has called us is also the one who protects us and his investment in us. In forgetting this we take steps towards self-preservation.
Considerations directed towards whether we deserved this calling are of themselves non-productive and can become insurmountable obstacles. 1 Sam.9:21 shows us that Saul did not consider himself worthy of the calling of God both because of his tribal heritage and his immediate family. He considered his tribe and his family as nobodies. Therefore he also was a nobody and unworthy of the great call and anointing of God. Such thoughts confront the majesty of the sovereign God who determines the value of the vessel from before the foundation of the world and fits that vessel for the task. God has repeatedly confronted attitudes of self-deprecation in the vessels of his choosing. When they have raised objections and excuses because of supposed inadequacies, God would respond with a resounding rebuke; Say not I am a child, for you will go to all that I shall send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak” (Jer.1:4-11). Many attempts at self-preservation and people pleasing arise out of those feelings of inadequacy and move one towards disobedience or partial obedience of God’s commands, because of our overriding need to protect ourselves. The risk here is awesome. Ultimately we put ourselves in the place to be rejected by God.God’s program here was critical. Israel had been delivered from Egypt and they were on their way to the land of promise. As soon as they set out beyond the reach of the Egyptians
stronghold they encountered the dreaded Amalekites, who, being of demonic origin sought immediately to discourage and discomfit the fledgling army who had not yet been fully delivered from the traumas and hurts of over 400 years in captivity. Amalek was put down at that time by the hand of God through Moses and Joshua. Yet God made a vow that he would eradicate them from the land because of this. He would make war with them from generation to generation until they were removed from the land (Exo.17:1-16). God in his sovereignty prepared an instrument especially for this task. It took over 400 years to prepare this instrument, but God would never forget his promise. It did not matter that this instrument did not know his full mandate from birth. It was irrelevant whether he considered himself adequate for the task. There was only one thing of importance. God had sworn by himself that he would totally exterminate Amalek, and passage of time would not squander the resolve. Amalek would be the subject of a tribal purge demanded by the governor of the whole earth.
God is not obligated to us to tell us our full purpose at the time of our calling and anointing. We may be incapable of appreciating or understanding its full significance. Yet the word of the Lord to us would contain within it the divine enabling and equipping. It is the word that locates us and point us in the direction towards our future and destiny. Step by step God locates and situates until he has us exactly where we need to be for his mission. It is not necessary that we see the destination. It is only necessary that we obediently follow him step by step. Always there would be those things along the way that nag at us seeking to stop us, detour us or turn us back. Only as we determine that we would not turn back in the face of trial, potential failure or some other problem, do we demonstrate kingdom radicalness (Luke 9:59-62).
Even when we have made wrong decisions and choices in the past, the God of covenant and grace comes to us to give us another chance. Through presumption and fear over the circumstances, Saul stepped outside of his orbit and into the realm of the priesthood, which was not his right (1 Sam.13:1-23). In that incident he lost some of what would have been his inheritance and the inheritance of his household. Yet the destiny was not aborted. God would yet move him towards that in his grace. The issue at hand was more than Saul’s failure of the moment. God had a score to settle with Amalek and he was God’s man. He had a mission to fulfill and this would be the accomplishment of his lifetime and his kingship.
God sent the prophet to him in rather ominous words; “I am the one that the Lord sent to anoint you as king over his people Israel, now therefore listen carefully to what the Lord told me to tell you (1 Sam.15:1). Saul missed the importance of the confrontation. It is as though God was saying to him, Saul you were chosen and anointed for this holy task therefore do not let the importance of this moment, mission and mandate bypass you. Though he thought that he had received the word of the Lord yet the importance of the moment and the mission would by pass him because of those things secreted in his soul. He was a nobody from nowhere and even though God had anointed him as king yet he would have to be careful and listen to and heed the people and their wishes if he were to have success and peace. Even after the fact he would yet consider that he had fulfilled the divine mandate (1 Sam.15:17). He had not realized that he had disregarded and rejected the word of the Lord and instead had chosen to exercise his own discernment (1 Sam.15:9). He had not understood God’s personal interest in the affairs at hand, his discernment being twisted by a critical flaw in his soul. He was a people pleaser more than a God pleaser. A monster had now matured within him, distorting the priorities of his life and totally controlling him.
At this critical time in the divine purposes Saul would rejoice over his victory over the Amalekites as though this were the intention of God. He had forgotten that total eradication was the mandate. He had not realized that God had waited for generations to fulfill this word. He had failed to recognize that he was a man of God’s choosing for this moment, thus, he would proffer token fulfillment as total obedience. Further complicating his sin would be his trek up to Carmel to set up a memorial to himself and his victory in the battle (1 Sam.15:12). Saul was convinced that he had done the right thing and had fulfilled the word of the Lord. But he also failed to realize how flawed his decisions were because of the control these hidden motivations exerted upon his life.
The divine purpose takes no prisoners and would not be placated by any sacrifice. The only sacrifice that is acceptable to the Lord is that which he has initiated. The sacrifices of the bulls of Amalek were an abomination to God. They were rejected just as if they were the blood of a man murdered as a sacrifice to God (Isa.66:1-4). On the flip side of obedience is stubbornness, arrogance, insubordination and idolatry. Its payday is rejection and a missing of the purposes of God (1 Sam.15:20-23). It result in the precious anointing being withdrawn and being replaced by an occasional religious spirit (1 Sam.16:14).
The ultimate acknowledgement of Saul was that he (1) had sinned; (2) he had transgressed the commandments of the Lord; (3) he had transgressed Samuel’s words; (4) he feared the people and (5) obeyed their voice (15:24). When the voice of the people and what they say so controls our actions and moves us to act in fear of them rather than in fear of God, we have indeed bartered our holy calling and anointing on the altars of public opinion. His repentance and his worship were then too little and too late and ICHABOD could be declared over him and his household. No more would the word of the Lord come to him and neither would he have the relationship with Samuel the servant of the Lord any more. He had cut off his connections and severed his relationship with the Lord, his servant and his word. Though he remained on his throne for the rest of that generation, it would simply be a matter of time before God replaced him with a neighbor who was better than he, and who would fulfill the divine mandate concerning Amalek (15:28).
While many dash headlong into eternal insignificance, aborting the purpose of God in their lives, is there yet any hope of redemption for those who, though they have failed in the past, would yet desire not to miss out on the encounter with Amalek? Surely God appoints another encounter at Bethel for those who would hear his word and respond. Restoration is in receiving the Lord’s word and his servant. Saul would have been saved from his own internal demons if he would learn to discern the voice of the Lord and to regard the servant of the Lord who was put into his life.
When we obey God, he in his sovereignty and by his anointing meets us to cut off our sins and iniquities. The supposed smallness of our entire heritage is no problem for God and in no way militates against the divine mandate, if there would be an obedient heart. Saul had encountered the anointing of God before and had been instantly changed by that anointing, together with the word of the Lord (1 Sam.10:6-9). Could not this same anointing work within him? Was not this anointing greater than the rejection of the masses (15:27)? Surely God provides the grace to overcome all of these insignificant things when we chose to submit to him. Moses, Isaiah and Jeremiah overcame some of the same things in their lives and went on to fulfill their destinies. When we begin to respond to God he does within us the very thing that he demands of us (Phil.2:13). When we respond he gives us boldness to represent him and his purposes without regard for the consequences. When we respond we are delivered from all fear, including the fear of man (Eze.2:1-8).
History is full of the stories of many, who like Saul have squandered away their opportunities because of their considerations of themselves and the fear of people and their opinions. Many they are who have been called by God and given an opportunity that they did not deserve in the natural. Yet they were extended the opportunity if they would be wholly obedient to the Lord and his mandates. What Saul did determined the future of his kingdom and his household forever (12:13). But his view of his background together with his desire for personal fulfillment colored his decisions and caused him to fear the people. Promotion does not come from the people but from God (Psa.75:6,7). Deliverance from personal fears and inadequacies are mandatory if we would rise to the challenge that God puts before us. God invests himself in the life of the instrument that he has chosen to remove his age-old enemy. He who calls is faithful to equip when we honor him (1 Cor.1:26-31). No Amalekite can survive if we would respond and submit to the mandate of God.
