The Day of New Beginnings
The Choicest Things Devoted to Destruction
1st Sam. 15:
1 ¶ Then Samuel said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of the LORD.
2 "Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt.
3 ‘Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’"
7 So Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as you go to Shur, which is east of Egypt.
8 He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
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 not willing to destroy them utterly; but everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.
10 ¶ Then the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying,
11 "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands." And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all night.
12 Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul; and it was told Samuel, saying, "Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself, then turned and proceeded on down to Gilgal."
13 Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed are you of the LORD! I have carried out the command of the LORD."
14 But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?"
15 Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and oxen, to sacrifice to the LORD your God; but the rest we have utterly destroyed."
16 Then Samuel said to Saul, "Wait, and let me tell you what the LORD said to me last night." And he said to him, "Speak!"
17 Samuel said, "Is it not true, though you were little in your own eyes, you were made the head of the tribes of Israel? And the LORD anointed you king over Israel,
18 and the LORD sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are exterminated.’
19 "Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD, but rushed upon the spoil and did what was evil in the sight of the LORD?"
20 Then Saul said to Samuel, "I did obey the voice of the LORD, and went on the mission on which the LORD sent me, and have brought back Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites.
21 "But the people took some of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the choicest of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal."
This is the story of Saul’s disobedience and his kingship over Israel being rejected by the Lord. We want to key on verse 21. The people took some of the spoil, the choicest of things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord. God is showing us here that what is devoted to destruction can never be an acceptable sacrifice to Him. It doesn’t matter how choicest the thing is. This truth points to what we are in our old, Adamic nature. The Adamic nature is devoted to destruction.
Rom. 8:
5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—
13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
So much of Christianity attempts to serve God with what has been devoted to destruction. This is what religion is all about; endeavoring to please God through a nature that God has condemned. Remember, the Israelites kept the choicest of the things devoted to destruction. But it doesn’t matter. Even when we give God our best, it’s worthless. Verse nine from our text in Samuel says they destroyed everything that was despised and worthless. Religion is always eager to dump the things deemed unacceptable in our nature. Bad habits, etc. are eagerly given to the Lord. But those choicest things, the parts of us we consider noble and good, we keep. But that which is devoted to destruction can never be an acceptable sacrifice! It’s not certain aspects of our nature that God hates, it’s the nature itself. “They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one (Rom. 3:12).”
What really pleases God is when learn to stand before Him, having a full understanding of what we are, yet with an eye toward His promise and provision for us. When it fully dawns on us it’s not about us, but about Him, then nothing will stop us from receiving all that He has prepared for us. “But as it is written: "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him (1st. Cor. 2:9)."
The grace of God is the most fundamental teaching in the New Testament, yet how hard it is for us to fully accept it. When we think we have done good we approach God with great confidence, but when we think we have fallen short, we drag our feet and are so reluctant to open our hearts to Him. We must be free of that kind of relating to the Lord! We are never worthy in ourselves to receive anything, but Christ’s sacrifice, and our faith in it, qualifies us to receive all things from His hand. As we learn to come boldly to the throne of grace (Heb. 4:16), not considering our successes or failures, we will be positioned to really please Him.