November 9, 2025

Minding Your Thoughts

A Biblical Overview of Obtaining and Maintaining a Biblical Thought Life

II Samuel 10:3   And the princes of the children of Ammon said unto Hanun their lord, Thinkest thou that David doth honour thy father, that he hath sent comforters unto thee? hath not David rather sent his servants unto thee, to search the city, and to spy it out, and to overthrow it?

All I wanted to do was to know about them! I was a new pastor and the church supported many missionaries that I did not know personally. They were on the field doing a fine job, I knew it was impractical to meet them all in person, also, calling them all on the phone would cost a fortune (remember the days of paying great sums for long distance calls, especially for calls outside the US), so I decided to send them a questionnaire. I wrote a cover letter communicating that I would just like to learn more about their ministry, call to the ministry, etc. I wrote a few paragraphs about myself so they would know something of me, attached the questionnaire, put them in an envelope and off they went literally to the corners of the earth.

A few weeks later I received my first response. One of the missionaries said that he refused to answer my questionnaire and that I was arrogant and curt to ask him to do so for he had been on the field for many years. Then others came, basically telling me the same thing. The negative responses that were hurled on my little questionnaire were something for which I was not prepared. Then the calls began. Some of the sending pastors of these missionaries called me to rebuke me and told me that if I had any further questions that I should call the sending pastors.

So, I asked the last one that called, “Why is everyone so upset, all I wanted to do was get to know them?”  He was kind to me and educated me about some facts pertaining to veteran missionaries that have served well over the years. One thing he told me was that missionaries usually get those types of letters from pastors that are looking for some reason to drop their support. I wanted to tell him that I had no thought of dropping their support until I received their responses, but fortunately thought better of it (you are never sorry for something you didn’t say, right!)  But I did tell him that I was very clear in my letter; I just wanted to learn about them. He replied that they did not know me, therefore could not extend to me the courtesy of knowing that I really did mean what I wrote. They, from past experience, judged my questionnaire in light of how other preachers treated them in the past. By the way… The response was from a minority of the total missionaries we supported, only two wrote back and gave me the information requested.

When David sent a troop of ambassadors to the new king of the Ammonites there was a huge misunderstanding and horrible consequences ensued. The lesson: before acting, consider what you think. Your thinking may be based on a false premise like Hanun the King of Ammon, or like the missionaries that received my little questionnaire. Search out the matter before finalizing an answer to …Thinkest thou… 

May the Lord bless and be pleased with your thought life today.

Dr. William Howe