UTTERLY DESTROY!!

During my time of devotions, I felt the Lord speak these two words to my heart, “UTTERLY DESTROY.”  I paused, not sure.  Was that really God speaking?  Why would a loving God speak of destruction?  I had been praying for some dear precious people who have made the choice to explore on their own, away from the path God has laid down for them, so why would God say, “Utterly Destroy?”  Surely God wasn’t speaking of these dear ones; this was definitely going to take a little more meditation and a whole lot more prayer.

As I lingered in prayer, God directed me to get up and read the account of King Saul’s disobedience to the command of God, Samuel’s pronouncement of judgment and the end of King Saul’s life…there are lessons to be learned.

Many years before, the nation of Amalek had ambushed Israel as they were making the journey to the Promised Land, it was now time for them to receive the punishment, God had prescribed, for their actions.

1 Samuel 15:2 Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. 3 Now go and attack Amalek, and UTTERLY DESTROY all that they have, and do not spare them.  But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”

I am not sure what went through Saul’s mind as he went to battle.  Perhaps he thought God was unfair or unjust.  Perhaps it seemed such a waste to kill the animals that really had nothing to do with the ambush, besides they could be used for food, trade or breeding OR even to sacrifice to God.  Whatever thought process led Saul to make the choice to disobey the command of God, the Bible does not say but the decision to not UTTERLY DESTROY was the beginning of Saul’s UTTER DESTRUCTION.

1 Samuel 15:9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to UTTERLY DESTROY them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.

BE SURE YOUR DISOBEDIENCE WILL FIND YOU OUT!!!  It wasn’t long before God sent Samuel to confront Saul regarding his disobedience to the command of God.  Saul is told that because of his disobedience, God is taking the kingdom from him and his heirs and giving to another.  Samuel, then has King Agag brought before him and hacks him to pieces.  Pretty gruesome stuff, but when God commands, He doesn’t mess around! 

REMEMBER THE WORD, AMALEK!  If we jump forward a few years, we read of a young man running to tell David the news of Saul’s death.

2 Samuel 1:6-10 Then the young man who told him said, “As I happened by chance to be on Mount Gilboa, there was Saul, leaning on his spear; and indeed the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. 7 Now when he looked behind him, he saw me and called to me. And I answered, ‘Here I am.’ 8 And he said to me, ‘Who are you?’ So I answered him, ‘I am an AMALEKITE.’ 9 He said to me again, ‘Please stand over me and kill me, for anguish has come upon me, but my life still remains in me.’ 10 So I stood over him and killed him, because I was sure that he could not live after he had fallen.

Did I really just read that the young man was an AMALEKITE?  One of the people that King Saul was told to, “UTTERLY DESTROY?”  The man who killed King Saul was an AMALEKITE?   YES, YES and YES!!!   Now the lesson becomes a little more clear, when God says to UTTERLY DESTROY, He means UTTERLY DESTROY…don’t separate the good from the bad, don’t save the best parts; UTTERLY DESTROY!!

What has God told you to ELIMINATE from your life?  Has it been UTTERLY DESTROYED?  Have you learned to COMPARTMENTALIZE your life?  Separating the things that belong to God from the things that “aren’t so bad;” the things you keep hidden to be cuddled and stroked in private.  Your life CANNOT be compartmentalized; the profane will taint the holy.  God says, “UTTERLY DESTROY!”

DO NOT FOOL YOURSELF!  You canNOT COEXIST with the enemy and at the same time be pleasing to God.  God will NOT share his authority in your life with anyone or anything.  It doesn’t matter how alluring, how beautiful or how valuable the offerings of the enemy appear, your choice to coexist with the enemy means you accept the ENEMY’S TERMS and play by the ENEMY’S RULES.  You must also understand that the enemy’s end game is YOUR ABSOLUTE DESTRUCTION!”

The command of God is NOT up for debate.  When God says, “UTTERLY DESTROY,” move swiftly and be thorough.  The little “things” you set aside for a special purpose will eventually be uncovered and their beauty and value will require your soul.  “THAT WHICH YOU REFUSE TO DESTROY, WILL EVENTUALLY DESTROY YOU!”

1 Samuel 15:22-23 So Samuel said: "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft and the stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.  Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king."