Hacking Sin to Pieces

Isn’t that a fabulous word? Hacking. It is a power word that evokes strong images of totally destroying something one blow at a time…with effort! Have you ever wanted to hack something to pieces? If you are a woman then I would say, yes, you probably have! If you are a wife then the odds go up that yes, you probably have. I did say some THING not some ONE. Don’t judge me! You know it is true so don’t go lying against the Holy Spirit! Ha! I digress…

So the entire first month of 2012 is gone and we are already anticipating the first hints of spring. It is at this point I would be interested to see how we are all fairing with our New Years resolutions. What was it that you were hoping to accomplish or diminish or lose? Did you are take a spiritual inventory as well? Committing to read the Bible every day or reading through the Bible in 2012? For some it might have been committing scripture to memory or finally dealing with sins that are hanging out and hanging on. You know what I mean. Those sins that just need to be dealt with once and for all!

There are many reasons why we hang on to our sin. For some of us it is pride, for others, if we are honest, it brings us a measure of pleasure, even happiness for a season. Sometimes it is greed, selfishness or just a plain lack of self-discipline.
Sin is pernicious that way. You can’t make friends with it, you can’t keep it pushed down and you can’t straddle the fence with an on again, off again attitude. You just have to kill it by hacking it to pieces!

I was reading yesterday out of 1 Samuel 15 about the story of King Saul vs. King Agag of the Amalekites. The Amalekites had opposed Israel as they were fleeing Egypt. You might be familiar with the story as the one where Aaron and Hur held up Moses arms. Even though Israel secured the victory, the Lord promised that He would eventually take vengeance and “completely blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven” (Exodus 17:14). Well, as far as God’s promises, He’s batting a thousand!

I’m sure by the time the events between Saul and Agag came around that the Amalekites had either forgotten God’s promise or they thought that Israel’s God was impotent. They would quickly think again! In 1 Samuel 15:3 God gave complete instruction to Saul in how to deal with the Amalekites: “Now go and attack the Amalekites and completely destroy everything they have. Do not spare them. Kill men and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.”

No gray areas there. But verse nine shows Saul’s complete disregard for God’s command. “Saul and the troops spared Agag and the best of the sheep, cattle and fatlings, as well as the young rams and the best of everything else. They were not willing to destroy them, but they did destroy all the worthless and unwanted things.”

Did you catch the beginning of the second sentence? “They WERE NOT WILLING”…This wasn’t about a misunderstanding, this was plain disobedience. Now girls, there are things that we do unintentionally out of a sinful default mode but when we are blatant about our disobedience then we are walking a dangerous road! Scripture is clear that we are held accountable based on what we know! If you know something is wrong but choose to do it anyway there is stricter judgement to answer to! Saul learned this the hard way.

You can almost hear the thought process that Saul is going through as he justifies his disobedience to Samuel. “God would want us to keep what is best and give some to Him. He’s okay with most of the people and livestock being destroyed. Surely a few animals and one man can’t hurt.” Wow! Isn’t that a total picture of humanity? We are very careful to justify those “little” sins here and there that remain in our lives. The occasional gossip session, the little white lie, the night of fun here and there, the sick day because we are sick of work, the wandering gaze or the lingering lustful thought that we privately entertain. Just as cancer begins with one cell so are the sins that we deem as trivial and easily brush under the rug.

However, God is not ambivalent about ANY of our sin. From a human perspective He could have left things as they were with Saul and Agag. Saul had almost fulfilled the task that God had given to Him. Isn’t “almost” good enough?

Ladies, we do not serve an “almost” God. God has never and will never do anything in part. When He sent His Son to die, Jesus completed the mission in total obedience. The Lord expects nothing less from us! In our commitment and obedience to Him He expects us to go all the way and He has equipped us by His Holy Spirit to complete the task! Straddling the fence causes nothing but splinters!

Consequently, God took the kingship from Saul and commanded Samuel to “hack Agag to pieces.” I have to imagine that Samuel, as a prophet, took no delight in the task set before him. In the end, Saul was sorry for his own demise but he wasn’t sorry for His disobedience. That’s the difference between regret and repentance. My Mom used to say to me when I was younger, “You’re not sorry, you’re sorry you got caught!” Oh, that we would be filled with sorrow over our sin and grieve the smallest offense; for even these things sent the precious Lamb of God to the slaughter!