Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Satan Dan. Then report back to me so that I may know how many there are.  Joab replied, “May the Lord multiply his troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all my lord’s subjects? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?” …. The Lord said to Gad, David’s seer, “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’ ” So Gad went to David and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Take your choice: three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies, with their swords overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the Lord—days of plague in the land, with the angel of the Lord ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should answer the one who sent me.” David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.” So the Lord sent a plague on Israel and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead. 1 Chronicles 21:1-3, 8-14

This is a tremendously instructive account found in both in 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21. We don’t know the specific context, but something made David vulnerable to the promptings of Satan to have a census taken of all the fighting men of Israel. It would seem prudent to know what your resources were for war but this census was apparently prompted out of pride and a sense that Israel’s safety was in the hands of the military rather than in the hands of God. Something about the heart behind the census was offensive to God and so when the David overruled Joab and the census was taken, the judgment of God was released against Israel. So what lessons can be drawn from the account?

First of all, David knew that it was the Lord who saves not personal or even national power and might. Even as a young man he was convinced that it would be God who would deliver Goliath into his hands not his own strength or prowess. He knew by experience that God could guide a single stone and bring down a giant or a nation. We are told in several places that David was a man after God’s own heart. But here is the lesson. We also know that David could operate out of his flesh at times and not out of God’s Spirit. Bathsheba comes to mind and now the census of fighting men. The truth is that the best of us can be overcome by a moment of stupidity and at times the consequences can be overwhelming – especially for leaders. Joab was not a particularly spiritual man but David’s order was even repulsive to him. God often puts people around us to warn us of bad decisions. Because we know that any of us can be vulnerable at times, we should listen to their objections. If we know we are moving ahead by faith and the direction of the Lord we can ignore the objections but we must check our hearts and our motives when those close to us raise concerns. We may be acting our of selfishness, pride or simply ignorance.

Secondly, Satan will attack people and nations through their leaders. Satan didn’t just hate David but the entire nation because God loved Israel. That is why we must pray for leaders on a national scale and a local scale. We must pray for church leaders, business leaders, and parents who are leading families. Decisions made by leaders can bless or even curse those they lead. Leaders often loose sight of the fact that their decisions will greatly impact not only themselves but those they lead and love. Satan has the ability to blind our judgment. People begin to think that what they choose will only touch them and everyone else will be fine. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people justify divorce and declare that their children will be fine and will understand why they are divorcing their spouse for someone who makes them happier. That rarely if ever happens. David listened to Satan’s promptings and seventy thousand men died leaving many more widows and fatherless children. Leaders must guard themselves and their judgment by having people around them who will tell them the truth.

Thirdly, David made a right choice after having made a wrong choice. He placed himself in the hands of God rather that than in the hands of men. If David had maintained that mindset before, he wouldn’t have felt the need to number the fighting men because when they went to war they would entrust themselves to God no matter what the numbers. When we trust men for outcomes more than God, we will also end up with less than we could have had. My wife and I went to an investment broker one time who assured us that we were giving way too much money to the church by tithing and that we needed to stop that if we were ever to reach our financial goals. If we had taken his advice I’m certain it would have cost us blessings from God that will come through our trusting him more with our finances than a investment counselor.

Toward the end of the story, David was allowed to see into the spiritual realm where he saw an angel with his sword drawn over Jerusalem directing the judgment of God. David cried out to God, “Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? O Lord my God, let your hand fall upon me and my family, but do not let this plague remain upon your people” (1 Chr. 21:17).   The fact that David owned up to his sin, took personal responsibility for it, displayed godly sorrow, and showed more concern for the people than himself allowed God to extend mercy and withdraw his judgment. Those are the conditions for mercy in the Kingdom of Heaven. Too many leaders who have sinned never take responsibility for what they have done or find some way to justify or minimize what they have done to deflect their personal responsibility. In that case discipline continues while the penitent leader who is willing to be responsible finds mercy.

As the story continues, the angel of the Lord told the prophet Gad to tell David to offer a sacrifice on behalf of the people. David found a man named Araunah who was threshing wheat and offered to buy the wood he was using for the threshing sled and for the oxen he was using to pull it. Araunah offered to give him whatever he needed for the sacrifice but David responded, “No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing” (1 Chr. 21:24). David paid the man, offered the sacrifice, and the plague ceased.

Although animal sacrifices are not part of the New Covenant, the concept of sacrifice continues. It is the act of freely giving what you find valuable unto the Lord. Paul tells us that we are to offer our bodies as living sacrifices unto the Lord (Rom. 12:1). We are also instructed to offer up a sacrifice of praise continually and that doing good and sharing with others is considered a sacrifice by the Lord (Heb:13:15-16). David established the principle. Our sacrifices of time, service, and even finances are still to be costly. When we give to the Lord it must not come from the leftovers that we care little about or only when it is convenient for that costs us nothing. David was a man who made mistakes but who also got it right in so many ways.   The Father gave us his best so we must give him our best. That is an acceptable sacrifice. Too many of us serve God if we have time after we have done everything we want to do. We give financially as long as our projects are funded first. We do only the things for God that we enjoy and turn down the requests that we don’t find fun or personally fulfilling. In acceptable sacrifice there is always an element of cost and washing feet as Jesus washed the feet of the twelve.

David is a great example of how to live and, at times, how not to live. I’m grateful for the transparency of David and the scriptures. My greatest take away from David is always that men can make huge mistakes but then turn back to God with all their hearts and be counted by God in the end as great men of faith. So often the proof of a man or woman is not whether they avoid mistakes but how they respond after they have totally blown it. Great lessons for us.