Welcome back to The Road. Or perhaps you prefer something along the lines of Willie Nelson: On The Road again. Anyway, those are just some pointless little banter moments that I typed and they have very little to do with anything else...other than the name of this blog is "The Road." Moving on...
Have you ever done something that you knew you weren't supposed to do but you did it anyway and then when the punishment came someone else ended up taking the punishment, at least in part? Basically have you ever done something you shouldn't and then let someone else take the wrap? I'm sure I have, I have 3 brothers after all. The thing eventually you reach that point (hopefully, if you have a heart and soul at least) where you can't stand to see that other person be punished for something that you did. It's a pretty bad feeling really.
In 1 Chronicles 21:1-17 (you should read that to get the full effect of what this is about) David has done this. David orders a census of every person in the kingdom. He is wanting to find out how strong his army may be, which as a king I'm sure is comforting to know. The thing however is that God had already forbidden this from happening. David did it anyway, and was then punished for it. The punishment was a plague that lasted three days in all of Israel and saw 70,000 people die. When God finally stopped this, David saw the angel of death at the door of an innocent person. David was given eyes to see this and that point he repented of his sin and begged God to punish him rather than the innocent people of his kingdom who were now suffering. Here are the things we should take into account with this story.
First, what David did was sinful. It doesn't seem like a big thing right? He just wanted to have an idea of how many soldiers he would have. The problem, what made it sinful, was that it went against God. God asked David to rely on Him and Him alone and yet David willingly put his trust in something other than God. The same holds true for us. When we intentionally put out own desires and needs ahead of trusting God, that is sin.
Secondly, David chose a punishment that he thought would be the easiest for him. God gave him the option of three punishments for his sin (don't we wish that our parents would give us options for punishment?). He could have three years of famine, three months of getting pounded by his enemies, or three days of severe plague in Israel. David took the one that seemed it would be the easiest to handle: three days of severe plague. That way it would be the shortest time of punishment as well as being the one (hopefully) that would keep David alive for sure. In the end 70,000 people died in the nation of Israel in those three days. The punishment spared David (seemingly) but resulted in great loss for the people.
Third, David came to the realization that sin, no matter how seemingly small or insignificant, has a huge impact on those around us. In this case, David assumed that the punishment for his "small" sin would be three bad days and then it would be back to business as usual. Finally, David's eyes were opened to what was happening around him as a result of his sin, and it wasn't good. David saw that innocent people were paying for his disobedience and he had been willing to let that happen in order to spare himself.
Finally, David realized that he could not let that happen. Once he saw what was really happening, he fell before the Lord and repented of his sin. He took the blame himself and asked God to punish him rather than the innocents who were suffering in his place. He felt genuine sorrow and remorse for what he had done and the consequences of his actions. In this state David also had genuine repentance before God. He turned from his own desires and sinful ways and chose to once again follow in God's ways.
We also have that option. God is calling for us to turn back to Him and repent of our sins, no matter how "small" we may think they actually are. When we do so, God will restore us. Peace and Love y'all.
No comments:
Post a Comment