Song # 1793.1 from Our Gospel In Song Collection by Col Johnston. In the Book of 1 Samuel we read in chapter 15 that Saul did not obey God’s instructions to attack and completely destroy the Amelekites and all their possessions. Saul and the army spared king Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle. Everything that was good they were unwilling to destroy.
Samuel said to Saul “I am the one the Lord sent to anoint you king over His People Israel, so listen now to the message from the Lord” (1 Samuel 15:1). “This is what the Lord Almighty says ‘I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel when they waylaid them as they came up from Egypt’ (1 Samuel 15:2). ‘Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them, put to death men and woman, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys’” (1 Samuel 15:3). So Saul summoned the men and mustered them at Telaim - two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men from Judah (1 Samuel 15:4). Saul went to the city of Amalek and set an ambush in the ravine (1 Samuel 15:5). Saul said to the Kenites “Go away, leave the Amalekites so that I do not destroy you along with them, for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites moved away from the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15:6). Then Saul attacked the Amalekites all the way from Havilah to Shur, to the east of Egypt (1 Samuel 15:7). He took Agag king of the Amalekites alive, and all his people he totally destroyed with the sword (1 Samuel 15:8). But Saul and the army spared king Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs- everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed (1 Samuel 15:9). Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel (1 Samuel 15:10). “I am grieved that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions” (1 Samuel 15:11).
Thought for today: your love for God can change the world, but don’t let the world change your love for God.
Thought for the future: God’s help is only a prayer away. Where will you spend your eternity?