The time had come for God’s justice to be laid out on the Amalekites, and King Saul was to be the mediator. But, as often is the case, a simple command gets transfigured into something more palatable between the hearing and the doing.

In our defense of the doctrine of depravity, which is right and necessary, we must not forget the transformative grace of the gospel.

Again and again we see Paul saying: don’t wait for things to happen. Go minister. Be active. Don’t neglect your gifts; use them. Don’t wait to see if ministry happens; go make it happen.

If the gospel is an ocean, then a trip to the beach does not suffice.