Have you ever had someone say something kind to you or do something thoughtful for you and it felt nice…at first? Given a couple moments of evaluation, perhaps you started to question their intentions. After all, maybe they have never done something like that for you before. Perhaps you feel like no one has ever had your back, so why would this person start now? You convince yourself that they are trying to use you to gain something for themselves, or maybe they were really using sarcasm in a sly way to mock you right to your face, so you begin to feel the need to protect yourself before you get hurt. After all, you know what they say, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.” As we will see in this next story, we need to be cautious with this way of thinking and processing.
In 2 Samuel 10, we come across the account where the king of Ammon dies. This king had shown kindness to David during his reign, so when he passed away, David decided to send some of his servants to be comforters to his son Hanun, who was now the new king. His intention was to honor the man who had been kind to him by helping his son through this grief. However, the fame of David’s many victories in battle and over throwing cities had spread like wild fire, and the advisors of King Hanun questioned David’s intentions. They told him to consider why David would really send his own servants. Was it to comfort him, or was he really sending spies to search their land and then form a plan to overtake their city?
Instead of going to God to seek the truth of the matter, He instead allowed the fear of what could be true (of what he convinced himself was true) to guide his decisions moving forward. He took the men who were sent to comfort him, shaved half of their beards off, cut their clothes, and made a mockery out of them sending them back to their city as a sign to king David that they didn’t trust him.
When David heard what had been done to his servants, and that they felt ashamed, David had compassion on them and immediately went to them to protect their honor and arranged for them to stay in another city until their beards grew back so that they wouldn’t have to return ashamed.
After it was obvious that they had been presumptuous, the people of Ammon continued to make even more assumptions, instead of being honest and humbling themselves with an apology. They knew they were no longer appealing in King David’s sight, and probably felt like David would attack them for the injustice they had shown to his people. They took everything a step further and paid to have an alliance with the Syrians in an attempt to strengthen their army “just in case” they needed to their help, which ended up being the action that caused the feared battle against Israel to actually happen.
How does something like this happen? How can a genuine act of kindness turn into a battle? By making assumptions. We need to heed the advice of Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:5 when he says, “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.”
If you are unsure of someone’s intentions toward you, take the matter to God.
Ask Him to give you wisdom and discernment. Do not allow your own reasoning and doubts to be the cause of the division between you and someone who truly cares about you.
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