FRIDAY May 3, 2019
Divine Retribution
Then Samuel said, “Bring Agag king of the Amalekites here to me.” So Agag came to him cautiously. And Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death is past.” But Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.” And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord in Gilgal.
1 Samuel 15:32-33
Samuel feared the Lord and in his life obeyed what He said. Notice, Samuel as a man of God was not a respecter of persons. Samuel sent for King Agag who presumedhe would receive grace––but not so. King Agag was guilty of murderous crimes––he had shown no mercy in his life.
Now in divine retribution, God would show him no mercy––Samuel killed him, hacking him into pieces.
Samuel completed what Saul should have done in obedience to the Word of the Lord. God had said to Saul to kill all the Amalekites, including King Agag. Samuel did what Saul did not do.
In Scripture, the Amalekites are a type of the flesh––our carnal desires. Understand, if you do not control your flesh, your flesh will control you. In Galatians 5:19-21, the Apostle Paul describes the evidence of the flesh working in a person’s life and the deadly consequences of practicing those things:
Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; … those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
In Galatians 5:24, Paul gave the answer to overcoming our flesh:And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.We belong to Christ. Just as Christ was put to death on the Cross for our sins, we likewise must crucify our flesh––put it to death!
The counsel of the un-crucified flesh is ungodly counsel. It coddles self and avoids the self-sacrifice of the Cross.
~A. W. Tozer~
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