Why God Hates Gossip Kay Keith Peebles 2/28/2020 20.06
I remember life in our first home after marriage. We lived there 4 years and made many friendships on our street. It was a time when we were all first-time home owners and we had small children. Many of us mothers did not work out side of the home so on Friday afternoons we would gather in someone’s yard and visit while the children played. Initially, it was a wonderful time.
I was an active church member but I cannot say I was born again. I was quite familiar with gossip and I’m sure I practiced it myself way too often. I had no teaching regarding Biblical instruction about it. It seemed the norm and I just learned to live with it. As our group of friends on the street grew and new people moved in I began receiving phone calls from a couple of women who felt they needed to tell me about issues they had with some of our other friends. I felt myself questioning the friend I really liked when another would talk about her. Whether the stories were true or false, I felt dirty hearing them. It was inappropriate for one’s faults to be told to others and exposed.
Once or twice I would be at an event with several of the women. Inevitably one would call to complain about what another one did at the party. I was there and I did not interpret her actions as did the “gossip”. I began to realize the gossips were dividing our sweet group by spreading doubt and even offense at others. The friend I especially liked was one of the women others complained about. It became clear she was not liked because she spoke frankly. I loved that quality in her. I always knew where she stood on issues and trusted her because of her honest and frank words. Through that experience the Lord began to draw me to seek Him and His ways. By the time we moved, I was glad to get away from those who needed to talk negatively about others.
I became born again within 3 years of that move. By then, I was in a Bible Study and the Lord began teaching me how to act toward others. We spent nine months on the book of Genesis my second year of Bible Study. In Genesis there is a great story about how God feels about gossip.
“This is the genealogy of Noah. Noah was a just man, perfect in his generations. Noah walked with God. And Noah begot three sons: Shem, Ham and Japheth.” Genesis 6:9-11.
God called Noah to build an ark which would protect him and his family and every kind of animal and bird of the air. The generations after Adam had continued to become more evil so it became necessary for the Lord to ‘start over’ with Noah because He was righteous. The Lord decided to flood the earth destroying all of mankind, animals and vegetation. It took approximately 100 years to build the ark. Noah may have had to withstand intense persecution as he built board by board warning the people of the coming destruction. Once the flood was over, Noah and his family came out of the ark and built an altar to the Lord where he gave a burnt offering to God.
After Noah and his family settled, Noah began to farm. He planted a vineyard. “Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. So Noah awoke from his wine and knew what his younger son had done to him. Then he said: ‘Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants. He shall be a servant to his brethren’. And he said: ‘Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth and may he dwell in the tents of Shem; and may Canaan be his servant.’” Genesis 9:20-27.
Ham’s decision to gossip about his father’s nakedness caused Ham’s son Canaan to be cursed. Canaan was not simply his uncle’s servant, this was a long-standing curse. The Canaanites never returned to the Lord. They worshipped false gods in pagan rituals, and became bitter enemies of the children of God. Although his father and brothers sought the Lord and followed in His ways, Ham sinned against his father and therefore against God. The Lord’s ways are very different from the ways of carnal man and if we are to follow God, we must also walk in His ways, not the ways of the world. Many scriptures warn us about the evil of gossip, but they also encourage us to practice the power of love and forgiveness.
“The end of all things is at hand, therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins.’” 1 Peter 4:7-8.
“Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins.” Proverbs 10:12.
Gossip uncovers and exposes the sin or faults of others. “You shall not go about as a talebearer among your people; nor shall you take a stand against the life of your neighbor. I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19:16.
David felt the pain of those who gossiped against him and slandered his name and reputation. “I said, ‘LORD, be merciful to me; heal my soul, for I have sinned against You. My enemies speak evil of me; when will he die, and his name perish?’ And if he comes to see me, he speaks lies; his heart gathers iniquity to itself; when he goes out, he tells it…Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, had lifted up his heel against me.” Psalm 41:4-9. David had already repented for his actions before the Lord and was forgiven, but the gossip was not aware of that. The Lord has called us to be of a different “spirit” than the world. He empowers us to love and forgive.
A gossip is offended and has un-forgiveness toward the one they gossip about. They are trapped in the past unable to move forward into the glorious future God has for them. Gossip is a form of judgment and revenge. It is a betrayal of a confidence with the purpose of dividing relationships and loyalties. It attempts to cause another to own their offense and think less of the person they gossip about. It is a divisive spirit and it dishonors and demeans the subject as Ham did his father. Offense that is not confessed before the Lord will produce a root of bitterness in the gossip. That is a dangerous place to be because the Word of God says, “Judge not, lest you be judged.” It is good to remember, the sin of Ham was passed down to Canaan and he was cursed because of his father’s actions. What we do will affect our entire household. Sin opens the door to demonic oppression which keeps us from prospering.
“Do not let unwholesome words ever come out of your mouth, but only such speech as is good for building up others, according to the need of the occasion, so that it will be a blessing to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed and marked for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor [perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, fault-finding] and slander be put away from you, along with every kind of malice [spitefulness, verbal abuse, malevolence]. Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another just as God in Christ also forgave you.” Ephesians 4:29-32.
When King Saul became jealous of David, he sought to kill his successor. David ran from Saul and hid in caves for eleven years. He had two chances to kill Saul but refused to harm him because he knew Saul was the Lord’s anointed at one time. It is God who puts people in leadership and takes them out because only He is the righteous judge. David never spoke against King Saul and never attacked him. He left all judgement to the Lord because he knew God has a better way for us to walk in.
“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails…When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-12.
Who of us hasn’t sinned? Who of us is perfect? God calls us to love and forgive others. He also calls us to pray for our enemies and to bless them. Whether it’s a “friend” or a family member, it is our responsibility to intercede on their behalf when we see things that aren’t good and wholesome. God did not judge Noah or David; He judged those who gossiped against them. We can be free from gossip, offense and judging by asking the Lord to forgive us. His Word shows us a better way to act, a better way to handle our problems and a higher road to walk. Gossiping leads to destruction. Loving and forgiving others is the High Call of Christ Jesus which leads to eternal life.
