Don't Jump to Conclusions

2 Samuel 10:1-4 "...then David said, 'I will show kindness to Hanun...just as his father showed kindness to me.'"

I read through the Bible chapter by chapter and when I get to some parts of the Old Testament I wonder if I will be able to apply it to my life. When I look to the heart of the people involved I always get a relevant application, people are people, even thousands of years ago.

The passage above is worth the read. King David is trying to show kindness to King Hanun of the Ammonites in response to the kindness that was shown to him by King Hanun's father.

Instead of believing that King David's motives were right, the men in Hanun's land thought that David was secretly sending in spies under the disguise of "kindness". The result...what was meant for kindness could have turned out to be a real blessing to Hanun, instead he took David's messengers for spies, humiliated them, and then were defeated by King David when they went to battle them.

So what did I take away from this? First, that we need to be very careful not to assume people are doing something sneaky with awful motives when in fact they truly mean good towards us. We could easily react with that thought and miss out on a blessing and get trouble in the form of fighting. Ever been there? Secondly, I learned that David was kind. He sought out ways to show his kindness not to get something, but because he was the recipient of kindness.

Kindness is superior, rejecting kindness can be costly.