2 Samuel 18:19–20: “Then Ahimaaz the son of Zadok said, ‘Let me run now and take the news to the king, how the LORD has avenged him of his enemies.’ And Joab said to him, ‘You shall not take the news this day, for you shall take the news another day. But today you shall take no news, because the king’s son is dead.’”

June 27th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Absalom rebelled against his father, King David, and tried to take his throne; but in the end, Absalom’s rebellion led to his own death. It was a conflicting victory for David. The rebellion was defeated and his throne restored, which should have been a cause for rejoicing, but his victory had come at the cost of his son’s life.

This unthinking young man, Ahimaaz, wanted the honor of carrying the news of the victory to the king. And he was so anxious to do it, he didn’t even consider how David would respond to the news of his son’s death. He did not see, as the older general (Joab) did, that David’s grief over his son’s death would send mixed signals to the nation and cause confusion. Or that the news might make David so angry that he killed Ahimaaz, as he had done when the young Amalekite claimed he had killed King Saul (2 Samuel 1). And so Joab told him he would not take the news.

We should heed the same warning ourselves. Just because we have an open door for some opportunity, we should not necessarily see that as a go-ahead or an authorization from God to walk through it. Just because circumstances become somehow favorable for doing something we’ve hoped for, the opportunity may not be from the Lord. How very careful we need to be of seizing onto such opportunities. All opportunities need to be bathed in prayer.

“LORD, give us wisdom beyond our own today so that we don’t miss any opportunities from You. But we also ask for the wisdom not to assume that every seemingly open door is necessarily from You.”