Daily Devotional for Wednesday, December 20

Hanun’s Fear

“And when the children of Ammon saw that they stank before David, the children of Ammon sent and hired the Syrians of Beth-rehob and the Syrians of Zoba, twenty thousand footmen, and of king Maacah a thousand men, and of Ish-tob twelve thousand men,” 2 Samuel 10:6.

Fear can make us do foolish things. When I was a child, sometimes I would have to walk home from school. On my way home I had to walk past a house where a child named Toby lived. He was a year older than me, and he was a bully. As I got close to his driveway, he would come outside of his house and start towards me. I would cross to the other side of the street, he would go back in his house, and I would move back over to the appropriate side once I passed his house. This street had a lot of traffic, and crossing over and back was dangerous. This went on for a while, until one day I decided not to cross the street anymore. Sure enough, Toby came out of his house and started approaching me. He got closer and closer until he realized I was just going to keep going. Instead of confronting me, he shrugged his shoulders and went back inside. I never had to cross back and forth across that street again.

After Nahash died, Hanun took his place as king of Ammon. David tried to show Hanun kindness (2 Samuel 10:2), but instead of accepting the kind gesture, the children of Ammon convinced Hanun that David was trying to overthrow them. In response, Hanun ridiculed David by shaming his servants (verses 3, 4). Once the Ammonites realized that they had repulsed and infuriated King David, they hired thousands of men to protect their city. Hanun allowed his fear to lead, and eventually his allies “made peace with Israel, and served them” (verse 19), while the Ammonites were ultimately destroyed (2 Samuel 11:1).

JUST A THOUGHT: Fear is one of Satan’s favorite tools. Do not let fear control you.

Chris Floyd