Have you ever found yourself tumbling down the rabbit hole of a conspiracy theory? Walk with me, Pastor Brandon, through the ancient narrative of King David and Hanun, a tale riddled with deception and its dire consequences, as told in 1 Chronicles 19. Our discussion delves into the complexities of discerning truth in an era brimming with misinformation. We'll explore how embracing skepticism towards controversial claims can safeguard our judgment and relationships, all while leaning on the enduring hope and guidance that God offers, just as He did during the tumultuous times of Israel.
In our spiritual journey, the pace we set can mean the difference between chaos and clarity. This episode emphasizes the virtue of patience and the profound tranquility found in aligning our life's tempo with God's impeccable timing. Together, we'll underscore the power of pausing and praying, ensuring that we include God in every decision we face. And as we wrap up with a prayer for discernment and a nod to the integrity celebrated in 1 Chronicles 29, I share my heartfelt gratitude for our listener community, promising to nurture our collective quest for truth in the episodes that lie ahead.
Have you ever found yourself tumbling down the rabbit hole of a conspiracy theory? Walk with me, Pastor Brandon, through the ancient narrative of King David and Hanun, a tale riddled with deception and its dire consequences, as told in 1 Chronicles 19. Our discussion delves into the complexities of discerning truth in an era brimming with misinformation. We'll explore how embracing skepticism towards controversial claims can safeguard our judgment and relationships, all while leaning on the enduring hope and guidance that God offers, just as He did during the tumultuous times of Israel.
In our spiritual journey, the pace we set can mean the difference between chaos and clarity. This episode emphasizes the virtue of patience and the profound tranquility found in aligning our life's tempo with God's impeccable timing. Together, we'll underscore the power of pausing and praying, ensuring that we include God in every decision we face. And as we wrap up with a prayer for discernment and a nod to the integrity celebrated in 1 Chronicles 29, I share my heartfelt gratitude for our listener community, promising to nurture our collective quest for truth in the episodes that lie ahead.
Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. 1 Chronicles, chapter 19,. And if I were to give this one a title, it would be Too Quick to Believe a Lie. Too Quick to Believe a Lie.
Speaker 1:
I don't know about you, but all around me there's constantly opportunities to believe. Intrigue, gossip, conspiracy, theories, everything in between. What do we do with all of this information? And is it dangerous to believe? Every controversy that comes around Turns out it can be very dangerous. We're going to talk about that today.
Speaker 1:
But, as always, if you like what we're doing here, make sure you like share, subscribe to the YouTube channel and to the podcast. Make sure you are leaving us comments on the YouTube channel I love connecting with people. Make sure you're also leaving us a five-star review on the podcast it really helps us to get the word out and where we all gather together at the Bible Breakdown discussion on Facebook. The more we dig, the more we find, and if you would like to get a weekly email of my favorite Bible Break breakdown episode of the week some different resources that I am kind of studying and looking through you can go to my website at brandoncannoncom and subscribe right there for free to that weekly email newsletter. All right, well, if you have your Bible, you want to open up with me to 1 Chronicles, chapter 19. I love hearing from all of you, and I was talking to someone the other day that said that them and their child listen to the podcast every morning while they're on their way to school, and I love that so much, so I have this picture. You have your coffee, your child has whatever they're drinking this morning, and it is wonderful to be on the road with you. Make sure you keep your eyes on the road. I'll keep my eyes on the Bible and we will get there together, right? Well, don't forget that the overall theme of this book that we're in right now is called when God is With you, there's Always Hope. And remember the first.
Speaker 1:
Like 10 chapters, ezra is connecting these people back to the purpose. Their purpose was to bring God glory. Their purpose was that they have a place in this area that they're gonna be in. God is for them. God is with them all the good things, and now he is sharing with them their history, their heritage, and the greatest part about their heritage is how God was with them in these early days, especially during the reign of King David, and we've been starting to learn about how God just was with David, as he was solidifying the area that they were going to be in and getting rid of all of their enemies and really helping firm up those different kind of boundaries, that this is going to be what the nation of Israel is going to be. Well, david, he is now in the position where he is trying to reach out to other neighboring nations and just trying to develop some of these different rapport with different things, and in the process, we're going to see.
Speaker 1:
Today there were some people that believed something about David that wasn't true and it didn't work out very well for them. And we're going to read this together. But the question I want us to think through is is it healthy to believe every conspiracy theory that comes along? Is it healthy? Oh, it's not a big deal, you know, it's just fun. Is it healthy? Are there consequences? Well, let's read this and let's see what happens when we choose to believe a lie. Are you ready? Here we go.
Speaker 1:
First Chronicles, chapter 19, verse one says this 1 Chronicles 19, verse 1 says this Sometime after this, king Nahash of the Amorites died and his son Hunan became king, david said I am going to show loyalty to Hunan because of his father. Nahashon was always loyal to me. So David sent messengers to express sympathy to Hunan about his father's death. But when David's ambassadors arrived in the land of Ammon, the Ammonite commander said to Hunan do you really think that these men are coming here to honor your father? No, david has sent them to spy out the land so they can come in and conquer it. So Hunan sees David's ambassadors and shaved them, cut their robes at the buttocks there's a word you don't say every day and sent them back to David in shame. When David heard what had happened to these men, he sent messengers to them stay in Jericho until your beards grow out, then come back, for they felt deep shame for their appearance. But when the Ammonite people realized how seriously they had angered David, hunan of the Amorites sent 75,000 pounds of silver to hire chariots and charioteers from Aram-Nahariyam, aram-mechach and Zobah. They also hired 32,000 chariots and secured the support of King Mekah and his army. These forces camped at Medbah where they joined by the Amorite troops that Hunan had recruited from his own towns.
Speaker 1:
When David heard about this, he sent Joab and all his warriors to fight them. The Ammonite troops came out and drew up their battle lines at the entrance of the city, while the other kings positioned themselves to fight in the open fields. When Joab saw that he would have to fight on both the front and the rear, he chose some of the Israelites' elite troops and placed them under his personal command to fight the Armeans in the field. He left the rest of the army under the command of his brother, abishai, who was to attack the Ammonites. If the Armeans are too strong for me, then come over here and help me. Joab told his brother, and if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will help you. Be courageous, let us fight bravely. When Joab and his troops attacked, the Armeans began to run away, and when the Ammonites saw the Armeans running, they also ran from Abishai, who was retreating, and retreated into the city.
Speaker 1:
When Joab returned to Jerusalem, the Armeans now realized they were no match for Israel, and so they sent messengers and summoned additional Armean troops from the other side of the Euphrates River. These troops were under the command of Shobach, the commander of Hadadezer's forces. When David heard what was happening, he mobilized all Israel, crossed the Jordan River and positioned his troops in battle formation. Then David engaged the Armeans in battle and they fought against them, but again, the Armeans fled from the Israelites. This time, david's forces killed 7,000 charioteers and 40,000 foot soldiers, including Shobak, the commander of the army. When Hadadezer's allies saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they surrendered to David and became his subjects. After that, the Arameans were no longer willing to help the Ammonites.
Speaker 1:
So what happened? Well, this king died and David wanted to do a good thing. But when he decided to do this good thing, the people looked at it and they twisted it and they tried to see conspiracy and intrigue where there really wasn't any, and because of that, it created a situation that didn't have to happen. And I'm curious. Let me know in the comments below, let me know on the Bible Breakdown discussion group, what your takeaway is from this chapter.
Speaker 1:
According to what God's Word says, what can we do with this? Well, as I'm looking through this, I can't tell you how many times I have had needless fear because of the what-ifs, because of conspiracy theories or ideas that sound like intrigue and sound interesting, but at the end they're not true. I can't tell you how many times I've created moments where there wasn't one, where I decided that someone was probably upset with me or someone probably had something going on, and, before I knew it, I had beef with this person and they had none with me because I chose to believe a lie. And that's so easy to do, especially in the culture we live in, where we're all connected. We've got all these different things that's going on and everyone's wanting to have a hot take on something and everybody's wanting to be the first to say something and all this kind of thing, and if we're not careful, we can get to the place to where we really have a lot of intrigue and a lot of emotion, but not a lot of facts. And so what do we do? Instead of deciding that we're going to listen to nothing, and instead of deciding we're going to listen to everything, we decide to be patient.
Speaker 1:
Now, there could have been a lot of other things that could have been done, but one of the things that could have been done is when they suspected that David could have been underhanded. Instead of immediately going to the worst possible scenario, they could have waited. They could have sent back emissaries and started a conversation, just to wait and see, instead of immediately jumping to conclusions. Can I tell you, in the culture we live in, we have got so much information coming at us that we've got to get better and better and this is myself included at learning how to sift through information and wait instead of jumping.
Speaker 1:
Let me give you a real case scenario. Let's say that you walk past somebody and they normally would smile at you. Well, today, instead of smiling at you, they kind of give you a nod Instead of automatically thinking something's wrong. Something's going wrong. I've done something, they've done something to me and before you know it, you've already become upset when you don't even know. Wait, go to them. Hey, are you okay? Hey, is everything okay? I just want to make sure I don't want to give a place for the devil to create an odd between me and that person.
Speaker 1:
Let's say you hear a rumor at work that something's going on and something's bad and whatever. Instead of jumping to conclusions and trying to hurry up, wait, pause, give it to the Lord and then go to the proper channels to ask questions. Because here's the thing there are sometimes conspiracy theories that turn out to be true. It's just the nature of where we live. For every one that turns out to be true. 10 turn out to only be something to create fear.
Speaker 1:
Can I tell you we worry about so much more than actually happens. I heard someone say one time that out of 100% of the things we worry about, 80% don't happen. 8% we couldn't control if we wanted to, and only 2% is our fault. Now some of us hear that and we go oh no, 2%, I get that All right, but think about that. 80% of the things we worry about never happen. It's just intrigue, it's just lies, it's things where we end up creating more problems because we jump to conclusions. 8% of the things that happen we couldn't control if we wanted to Natural events, sicknesses, different things, the decisions of other people we couldn't control any of that. Only 2% can we control. So what do we do instead? Can we control? So what do we do instead when we think of possible bad news?
Speaker 1:
Wait, pause, give it to the Lord and don't take the next 10 steps. Take the next step, because what happens is is, if you trust the Lord, even if it is bad, god will be with you. God is bigger than any one of our problems, god is bigger than any one of our circumstances and so if we trust him, even if it is bad. God will always be with us. Let's pray together right now, god.
Speaker 1:
Thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you're with us and you are for us. I pray today that, no matter what we face, no matter what we hear, no matter what fear the enemy wants to try to bring into our lives, I pray that before we take a next step, we'll always get you involved. We'll always pause, not be too quick to believe a lie, but to always be quick to trust you in all things. We're thankful for you today. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen. Don't forget. God's Word says in first Chronicles 29,. I know, my God, that you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow at first Chronicles, chapter 20.