FBC Morning Light – July 1, 2023

Good Saturday morning, people of faith. We're in 1 Chronicles chapter 21 this morning, and I'm going to read the first couple of verses for you. Verse 1, Now Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel.

The Danger of Weakness and the Devil’s Wiles

So just a little aside here as we begin, don't think that you are immune to the wiles of the devil. David was able to be moved by Satan in his weakness, and we ought to be on guard in our weakness that we stand only because of what God does for us, that on our own strength we would not be able to stand either.

So it says that David said to Joab, verse 2, and to leaders of the people, Go number Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring the number of them to me that I may note. So Beersheba was way down in the south, the southern tip of the land, Dan is way up north.

So this is, number all of Israel for me. And Joab in particular knew that this was the wrong thing to do, and Joab answered in verse 3, May the Lord make his people a hundred times more than they are, but my Lord the King, are they not all my Lord's servants?

Why then does my Lord require this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt in Israel? So this is the wrong thing to do here, is to call for a census. The idea is that the Lord didn't want the census to be taken because then David's trust or the people's trust would be in the numbers of armies that they had, or in the number of chariots, or the number of horses, rather than to trust the Lord, their God.

And so David has gone and done this anyway, and we're going to pick this story back up a few verses later because David's choice has consequences, all right? And it says in verse 11, this is after David has realized he's done something wrong, and it says, so Ed came to David and said to him, thus says the Lord, I choose for yourself either three years of famine or three months to be defeated by your foes with the sword of your enemies overtaking you, or else for three days, the sword, or excuse me, or else for three days, the sword of the Lord, the plague in the land with the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.

Now consider what answer I should take back to him who sent me. So here's your choices. Imagine what it would be like for us to be put in that place where we had the choice of one of those three things.

The question is, which one would you choose? And we're going to look in a moment at what David chose, but your choices of three years famine, so there's not enough food for everybody to eat for three years, or three months, all your enemies are able to overtake you with the sword, or three days, a plague in the land with the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.

So David responds in verse 13, he says, I am in great distress. Please let me fall into the hand of the Lord. His mercies are very great. Do not let me fall into the hand of man. Now, before you say this is a wise decision or an unwise decision, think for a moment about 2 Kings chapter 19 and verse 35.

I'm sure it's not on the tip of your tongue, so let me read it to you. And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrians, 185 ,000. And when people arose in the morning, there were corpses, there were the corpses all dead.

It doesn't take much to figure out that if the Lord angel of the Lord kill at least 185 ,000 a couple hours of the night, that it wouldn't take very long for the angel of the Lord to destroy the entire land of Israel.

And so here we are, which one would you choose? David chose that last one and had to bank on the fact that the Lord is a God of mercy, a God of mercy. And so ultimately that's where we are all at in the hands of the Lord, a God of mercy.

So if you would take a moment as you read this and feel free if you are watching on YouTube to put a comment, which one would you have chosen if you were given that choice of the famine or to be overtaken by the sword of enemies or to be in the hands of the Lord, as David said?

Prayer for Mercy and Grace in Christ

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, as we consider what it would have been like for us to have to make this decision, let us know for certain that you are a merciful and just God who does not bring upon us the punishment we deserve, but rather has spilt out that punishment on your Son.

We thank you for your mercy and your grace that you dealt to your Son in our stead. Help us to walk faithfully with you this morning. It's in your Son's name, Jesus we pray, amen. Have an excellent day, people of faith.