Most people are suffering mysterious affliction in life because they do not understand the root of their problems. Proper understanding of the cause of challenges will help us get the right solution. “Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, it is for Saul and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites.” That David enquired from the Lord to know why there was famine in the land of Israel is instructive to contemporary believers. Praying or fasting without knowledge of the cause of affliction, calamity, oppression or demonic attack is like a person who wants medical treatment without medical examination.

So, people who, in their desperation, run from one prayer house to the other seeking remedy to mysterious affliction, calamity, suffering, poverty, among others, should examine themselves to know the cause of such negative occurrences in their lives. To avert negative situations in our lives, we must enquire from God like David. If he had not enquired from the Lord, the famine would have lasted more than three years.

God is not a man. He has a divine record and remembrance of man’s foolishness and sinful zeal. In this case, Saul sinned with impunity because of the immunity he enjoyed as the King of Israel. Although he knew there was a subsisting covenant between the Gibeonites and the Israelites, he went ahead “to slay them in his zeal to the children of Israel and Judah.” He used his position as a king to silence prophets and preachers. Thus, there was no record of this wicked act during his lifetime. But since nothing can be concealed from the omniscient God, He brought it to remembrance as the nation of Israel suffered three years of consecutive famine under the leadership of King David.

Obviously, God was not pleased with Saul; yet the people who knew about his murderous act, failed to report it. To David’s enquiry, “…the Lord answered, it is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites” (2 Samuel 21:1). Due to ignorance, some people think God does not record or remember the past. Those who wander away from grace and fail to refrain their feet from evil should know that because “God requireth that which is past, …he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.”

Furthermore, Saul left the enemies he was appointed to destroy and turned himself against the defenseless Gibeonites in order to earn cheap popularity. Like Saul, some believers are zealous about non-essentials. They dissipate their energy on things that do not have eternal value. No one can undermine teachings on being born again, restitution, consecration, holiness, the great commission, among others, and claim to be a Christian. To be rewarded on the final day, we must seek to please only the Lord in everything we do.

• Further Reading (King James Version): 2 Samuel 21:1,2; 2 Kings 8:1; Psalm 74:9; 79:4,5; 89:46,47; Jeremiah 12:4. 2 Samuel 21:1; Psalm 50:21; Ecclesiastes 8:11; Isaiah 42:14,15; Jeremiah 14:10; Hosea 8:12,13; 2 Samuel 21:1,2; 2 Kings 10:16,31; Romans 10:2,3,21; Ecclesiastes 3:15.