The Lord could easily bring His harsh consequences to bear on Amalek without the help of Saul. So why did He hire Saul for the purpose? Moreover, the grievous sin committed by Amalek occurred some four hundred years prior to this time. Why didn’t He execute punishment immediately instead of waiting all this while to revisit the matter? Our attempt to ponder these questions will throw some light on the divine nature and why God deals with us as He does.
It does seem that with God, delay is not denial. Just as judgement can be delayed, especially when it is acute, blessings are also delayed when they will take the form of a great rain and are likely to overflow to succeeding generations.
Great punishment as well as blessings are never delivered immediately! First they are promised, then after what seems – or is in fact a long process of time, they descend inexorably. This has been a thing of great delight to those who defy God, who therefore proceed as though there is no God, concluding that no consequence is in view. It has also brought great discouragement to many saints awaiting the fulfilment of a promise, except they are where they can be upheld and sustained by the Spirit of God through the word and godly fellowship.
I can only conclude that punishment is delayed because God is leaving abundant room for repentance. After all, look at what happened in the case of Levi who was under a great curse when Jacob his father gave his parting words, yet had such an admirable comeback at Sinai when Moses called and asked who was on the Lord’s side! It is the nature of our God to set judgement aside wherever He finds repentance. A righteous person can also repent of his or her righteousness! Which is why I think the righteous on whom a great blessing has been pronounced must wait and endure until such a time that the clouds gather and a rainstorm of blessings follow.
No receiver of great blessings transcending generational divides escaped this waiting period! Hell also seems to have a field day in their attempt to persuade the righteous to change his and her way and escape the long awaited goodness. Everyone who will do business with God must be thoroughly schooled in this doctrine otherwise they will cave in when evils descend in torrents instead of the promises explicitly pronounced, which sometimes are even already fulfilled in part.
The failure of godly fellowship on a general or corporate scale, as we have seen in our recent experience, has cost a lot of people their beautiful destinies in God. The truth is, no soldier who succumbs to discouragement will receive his or her prize. Waiting on the Lord to renew strength and mount up like the eagles is difficult if not hopeless without the warmth of genuine fellowship. But God in His faithfulness will lead you by the still waters as you wait.
In conclusion, we can see that God is in some ways like our earthly fathers who enjoy letting their tender children partake in the work they do. He is like a farmer who buys his toddler a toy cutlass!