The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse passage – 2 Samuel 24 (day seven)

However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing.” (2 Samuel 24:24a)

I’ve wrestled with this passage all week, and I don’t think it is about what I thought it was about. I’ve wondered how this passage developed theologically and why God’s wrath is described the way it is.  I was greatly excited to have one more chance to call us to be a repentant people (v.10, 17), and then I got to the last verse of this last chapter of David’s reign.

The final verses cause us to consider worship.  We find David worshipping where the wrath of God stopped, and 1 Chronicles notes this is the exact spot where Solomon would build the temple.  From David until Christ, God’s children would make their way back to worship in that very spot where the mercy of God reigned.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Samuel 24 (day six)

And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel,... 2 Samuel 24:1

Would we be okay with a God who is never angry? Our world would have us believe if God does exist then he most certainly would love us just the way we are. But in truth no one would settle for a God like that at all. A God who doesn’t get angry is a God who doesn’t love. A God who doesn’t get angry is far off, uncaring of the affairs of humanity, indifferent. A God who doesn’t get angry, is a God who doesn’t redeem.

The only reason we know God’s mercy and grace is because he gets angry. An angry God is an intervening God. So, no, we wouldn’t be okay with a passive, indifferent God.

 

Re:Verse passage – 2 Samuel 24 (day five)  Now David’s heart troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done.”

What was David’s motive behind the sin?  Why was God offended by this particular census?  God had even given instructions for taking a census (Exodus 30). So we know that God is not anti-census. Others have offered really good explanations in this blog. I would like to give you one that I find compelling. I believe that this census indicates a lack of faith in David. He seems to be deeply interested in the exact size and strength of his army. David has forgotten God’s promise that victories will not be determined by strength or numbers, but rather trust in God (1 Samuel 14:6)- a promise he believed as a teenager when he stood up against Goliath, but has forgotten as an adult. His trust was in his numbers not God’s power or promises. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6) Which promises do we need to remember and trust in today?

Re:Verse passage – 2 Samuel 24 (day four)

What was so bad about a census?  To our western mind, a census does not seem to be a bad idea.  In Exodus 30 though, God specifically required a ransom for each man counted in a census.  Since no reason is given in Scripture for the ransom, scholars have speculated as to the why.  Israel was considered God’s army, so when a leader counted the available soldiers, he was appearing to claim the army as his own.  In 1 Chronicles 21, we also learn that Satan had moved David to conduct the census.  That cause and effect is never good!

Regardless of the why, David had sinned against God.  It was David’s repentance after the fact that revealed David’s reputation as a man after God’s own heart.  We all sin…but it is how we deal with that sin after the fact that reveals our relationship with God.  God is ready to forgive when He sees a heart that is truly repentant!

Re:Verse passage – 2 Samuel 24 (day three)

“Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.”

We recognize David least when he is behaving most like a clichéd tyrant—employing his power to bend the world to his will. The writer of 2 Samuel makes apparent that God has established and nurtured the nation for his own purposes. David now behaves as if he has outgrown those purposes, and he moves Israel to a war footing to expand his geopolitical influence in the region. David had determined to take action, and the Lord said, in effect, “Okay, your will be done.” When human beings speak that phrase to God, the final result is good, always. When God speaks that phrase to human beings, things will not end well.

Re:Verse passage – 2 Samuel 24 (day two) However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing.” vs. 24

Sacrifice always comes with a price. David could have accepted the threshing floor, the oxen, all the was required for a proper sacrifice….except a sacrificial action. If it costs nothing, it is worth nothing. Jesus taught this to his disciples in every way he could.

And He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins.  And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.” Luke 21 2-4

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-8

God rewarded David’s action far beyond what was expected. David was atoning for his disobedience, and praying for mercy for his people. God was continuing to establish his kingdom and would later turn that threshing floor into the foundation of the Temple.

What has your service to Christ cost you? What are you willing to give? Isn’t he worth it all?

 

Re:Verse passage – 2 Samuel 20 (day seven)

Galatians 5 provides a good standard of measurement: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;against such things there is no law. (Gal 5:19-23)

This week we see more of that first list in Joab: stabbing an unsuspecting man in the belly (v.10), wreaking destruction in Abel Beth-maacah (v.15, 19) while we see more of the second list in the woman of Abel Beth-maacah: wise (v.16, 22), peaceable and faithful (v.19).

If you find yourself entertaining any of those on the first list your flesh is stealing you away from God, but when you find those characteristics listed second appearing in your life the Spirit is molding you into something holy.  May we be filled with the Holy Spirit bearing abundant fruit to bless all those around us.