Kingly Strength and Dependence
[10] But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.” [11] And when David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, [12] “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the LORD, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’” [13] So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” [14] Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”
2 Samuel 24:10–14 ESV Read More
If this story seems out of place in the life of David, it’s because it is. Just like at a funeral, everyone doesn’t sit around and reminisce about their loved ones and their stories in chronological order. These final chapters of 2 Samuel are a quintessential wrap-up of the life of David. David wrote psalms, dealt justly with his people, made awful mistakes, and was repeatedly reconciled with God.
Much like King Saul before him, David was tempted to think that the strength of his kingdom was in his army. Against the advice of his court, and even Joab, David counted his fighting men. After the whole deed was done realized his sin. He confessed his sin and God actually gave him a choice about the consequences.
Hebrews 10 talks about enduring hardship as discipline, because God is treating us like sons and daughters. God is training us up to be His holy people, and sometimes that involves more than us sitting on the couch and calling Him for snacks.
God was checking David’s character with this choice. If David had to contend with men for 3 months, he knew just how many army men he had to back him. He had an inventory of his man-against-man conflict and knew how to handle that.
But David also knew that there was something that God had that those man-enemies didn’t: MERCY.
Falling into judgment from God meant that David recognized the true strength of his life and of his kingdom. It wasn’t in armies or cunning, but in the mercy of God. Even when the judgment came, God showed off His character by showing mercy in the middle of it and stopping the plague before the set time.
God always shows mercy. No matter how awful, no matter how brutal, no matter how discouraging, God has an outlook to shape you into His child. That was how David grew up to be an old king. He would mess up bad, confess His sin, and then let the Lord reshape him. Judgment comes in many forms, and discipline is never fun, but the Lord always shows mercy. That was one of the defining characteristics in David’s relationship with the Lord. He was dependent on God’s mercy.
As people gathered to tell stories about what a great king he was, they would tell those stories alongside the stories of his bravery and strength.
May we all be so brave and weak as that King.
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