Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

May 13th, 2020 Did You Even Ask God? … by Melissa Clayton

Today’s Reading – 1 Chronicles 19 – 22 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)

(Second Milers Read – John 17 – 18; Psalms 61 – 65; Proverbs 13)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 55:17

Read the “0513 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Read previous posts from this passage – “The Place of Sacrifice“; and “Get Busy.“

“Now it came to pass after this, that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his stead. And David said, I will shew kindness unto Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father shewed kindness to me. And David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. So the servants of David came into the land of the children of Ammon to Hanun, to comfort him. But the princes of the children of Ammon said to Hanun, Thinkest thou that David doth honour thy father, that he hath sent comforters unto thee? are not his servants come unto thee for to search, and to overthrow, and to spy out the land? Wherefore Hanun took David’s servants, and shaved them, and cut off their garments in the midst hard by their buttocks, and sent them away.” (1 Chronicles 19:1-4)

It didn’t take very long into chapter 19 for the Lord to speak to me. In this chapter David’s friend Nahash, the king of the children of Ammon, has died. He was a good friend to David and David goes to Ammon to comfort his son Hanun. Hanun has this group of friends or advisors, the princes, and they start speculating over the true nature of David’s visit. They start sowing seeds of doubt in Hanun’s ears by saying that David wasn’t there to comfort, but rather to spy out the goods of the land, and soon Hanun starts to believe the things they are saying. This series of gossip, followed by speculation and doubt, set in motion a series of events that wind up costing the children of Ammon dearly. They wind up losing their allies and becoming servants to David.

There are a couple of lessons here. The first one is gossip: these princes think they knew something, and they began to whisper in Hanun’s ear about it. The second is speculation: Hanun listened to these whispers and started this battle in his own mind of doubt. The first thing he should have done is gather the facts. I suspect if he had prayed about this and asked God to give him clarity over the situation, God very well could have said “Well go ask David instead of just sitting here wondering about it.” But, he didn’t ask God; he just chose to act.

But, then I realized that I am just like Hanun. I have been Hanun over and over again in my life. A situation arises with a friend or family member, or within the church, and I gossip, or listen to gossip, I speculate and doubt instead of praying for wisdom. I battle in my mind and then act, and then consequences arise. How many relationships have been broken because of situations like this? Probably a ton. I can do better. We as Christians can do better than that. We need God’s wisdom in our relationships, don’t forget to include Him.