2 Samuel 10:1-8

You probably never thought that kindness could start war, but in this particular passage that is exactly what happened. Now it’s pretty obvious that 99.999999% of us will never be in the position to do something that would draw the United States into a war. So we shouldn’t pull from this passage that we should be minimizing the outpour our of kindness. But we should be more careful of those who question kindness that is given to us and I simply have one reason for that, God commands us to be kind so we should never respond to kindness with distrust.

Micah 6:8; Hosea 12:6; Zechariah 7:9

All of these passage command kindness along with true justice or discernment. Being commanded to be kind raises a pretty strong standard, but our commitment to kindness is usually contingent. We can quickly escalate things because we are all for judgement but leave out kindness.

If you jump to the end of the this passage you see Israel going to war and being significantly victorious. But there is one layer we need not skip, and thats allowing mercy to be given. Jesus said blessed be the merciful for they shall receive mercy (Matt. 5:7).

David gave that mercy, although the Ammonites had become a stench to David (2 Sam. 10:6), Israel did not attack until defenses were obsoletely needed.

There is a brief moment for mercy, and that moment is important because it allows us to rely on God. Let us pray for discernment so we can steward our kindness and mercy and allow God’s love to seen in ever situation because that is how He redeemed us.