WHEN YOU WERE SMALL IN YOUR OWN EYES

Toward the end of the prophet Samuel's life, the Israelites grew weary of being under judges and desired to have a king to rule over them so that they could be like the other nations of the world.  Though God was displeased with their desire, He permitted them to have their king, saying to Samuel, "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them" (1 Samuel 8:7).  Consequently, Saul, the son of Kish, became the first king of Israel.

 

After Saul had reigned for some years, God said to him, "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass" (1 Samuel 15:3).  Rather than utterly destroying everything of Amalek as God had directed, Saul chose to keep Agag the Amalekite king alive, along with the very best of their cattle and other belongings.  Only the things that were vile and worthless were destroyed. 

 

For this disobedience God was not happy, and He sent Samuel to confront Saul.  When Saul saw Samuel, he declared to him that he had performed the commandment of the Lord.  When asked about all the spoil, he answered that it was all the people's fault; it was they who had kept the best of the flocks and herds to offer a sacrifice to God.  Twice Saul argued his innocence, twice he threw everyone else under the bus, and twice he was rebuked for his willfulness.  Samuel said to Saul, "When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?" (1 Samuel 15:17).  Then Samuel spoke God's judgment, which was harsh, but also just: "Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, He hath also rejected thee from being king" (1 Samuel 15:23b).

 

This whole story emphasizes the importance of absolute obedience to God's revealed will in the life of every child of God.  It is only when we humble ourselves before our God that He is able to exalt us.  When we are little in our own sight, we will learn to trust God more, and ourselves less.  He then can direct our works to accomplish His divine purpose free from the taint of our own notions and ambitions.  God wants to rule in the kingdom of our lives, but He doesn't interfere when we choose to reject Him and set ourselves up as rulers of our own destiny.  He will warn us of the consequences of our decision, but then leave us to reap the fruit of it.  Worse still is when we set someone else up as king in our life, and allow them to govern what we believe, and what we do.  The motivation is clear and understandable enough: we just want to be like the nations of the world; we just want to be like everybody else, but God has called us to be a peculiar and unique people who are zealous to do His will.

 

You see, Amalek represents our old carnal nature and our fleshly man.  That nature is "corrupt according to the deceitful lusts" (Ephesians 4:22), and therefore must be utterly destroyed.  There is nothing redeemable about it.  It has been nailed to the cross of Christ so that this body of sin might be dealt with once and for all (Romans 6:6).  Paul said, "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not" (Romans7:18).  We can’t pick and choose the things of our life that we will nail to the cross, that is God’s job, and He has condemned everything that pertains to our old (before Christ) nature.  He has done this so that He can transform us into a new spiritual man.  “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:6).  “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

 

The reason that Amalek was at the top of God's hit list was because Amalek attacked and sought to destroy Israel right after they had been delivered out of the bondage of Egypt (Exodus 17:8).  This they did without any provocation whatsoever.  As a result, God said, "I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven," and, "...will have war with Amalek from generation to generation" (Exodus 17:14b, 16b).  On that fateful day, Moses stood on the hill of Rephidim with Aaron and Hur holding the rod of God over his head to secure the victory for Israel.  As long as the rod was held aloft, Israel prevailed in the fight; but when Moses grew weary and lowered the rod, then Amalek prevailed.  In the end, Aaron and Hur had to hold up Moses' arms so that Israel could win the day.  Moses built an altar to the Lord after the battle and called it Jehovah-nissi (the Lord our banner) to emphasize to all Israel that God Himself had won the victory, and not the strength of Israel's armies or might.

 

Christians are often surprised by the tenacity of the flesh.  After being saved, they are filled with joy and victory; but very soon the old nature raises its ugly head and begins to resist the things that the Spirit of God is trying to work in their lives.  "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would" (Galatians 5:17).  Such resistance seems unprovoked, but choosing to live for God sets one right smack in the middle of a spiritual warfare.  Our victory is in knowing that we can't win the battle through our own strength.  We must rally under the banner of God's might and power.  It is the cross of Christ that gives us such power, because it is there that we die to our old nature, but rise again to a new life in Christ Jesus.  Like Moses, God raises His banner of victory over us until the battle is won, and He holds us up when our strength fails until we have prevailed over our enemies.

 

We must each learn to walk in God's Spirit if we want to be victorious in our spiritual lives, and to grow in Christ.  To be carnally minded is death - the same spiritual death that came on Adam and Eve when they disobeyed God - but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  We cannot pick and choose the things of the flesh that we want to keep, and the things we should destroy.  We do not have God's perspective.  We, like Saul, have no problem destroying all the junk in our lives; but the "good" stuff we think we can salvage.  Being human, we want to be kings over our own lives, and have the freedom to make those choices.  Fine, but let's not mix our rebellion and self-will with Christianity and think they can be compatible.  It doesn't work like that.  We were bought with the price of Jesus' blood and sacrifice.  We gave up those rights when we accepted the deal.  Samuel told Saul, "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.  For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry" (1 Samuel 15:22b, 23a).

 

 Samuel was later sent to the house of Jesse to anoint a new king over Israel.  Samuel was impressed by the older sons of Jesse who were tall, strong, and handsome; and thought that surely they were the right material for kingship.  "But the Lord said to Samuel, Look not on his appearance or at the height of his stature, for I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).  All of the things that man counts important and praiseworthy in this life are worthless in the sight of God if they are not born out of obedience to the perfect will of God.  Those things only breed pride and arrogance because they originate from man's carnal nature, and not from God's heart.  We must learn to lose our carnal lives if we would desire to gain the abundant life of Jesus, which is eternal life.  "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son" (1John 5:11). 

 

"Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it.  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"  (Matthew 16:24-26).