This is part two of a four part series I am doing on David. If you
missed the first post click here to read.
“So David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people, “Go
number Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring the number of
them to me that I may know it.”
1 Chronicles 21:2
“But Levi and Benjamin he did not include among them, for the
king’s order was detestable to Joab.
And God was displeased with this [reliance on human resources]
and He smote Israel. “
1 Chronicles 21:6, 7
This was another one of David’s mistakes. I would like to
make myself clear before I move on. My goal is not to discredit
David. God called him a man after his own heart so instead I
want us to learn from the challenges he faced. The enemy was
not just going to let him walk freely into God’s glorious plan. The
enemy would fight him with everything. There
are some very valuable lessons we can learn from David’s
battles. Let’s move on…..
David decided to count Israel. Why?
The answer is found in verse one of the same chapter,
“Satan [an adversary] stood up against Israel and stirred up
David to number Israel.”
1 Chronicles 1:1
David counted Israel because the enemy filled him with fear, doubt
and lies! That is how satan stood up against him. Everything
was going well for David but the enemy used fear and lies
against him. “Does God really have my back?”
“Am I really safe?”
“Did God really mean all that He promised me?”
Where these the kind of things going through David’s mind?
And is David alone in this? I don’t think so….
I have allowed fear to paralyse me at times, I have allowed the
lies of the enemy to get my attention off God a lot.
David began to rely on what he had. Fear drove him to lean
on weapons, human resources and so on. Fear made him forget
God was by his side never to leave him! Fear made him doubt
God’s goodness and faithfulness.
How the enemy has done this to me so many times. He whispers
the lie that God has abandoned me, that God doesn’t have my
best interests at heart, that faith in God is futile because He will
surely let me down but it’s not true!
Our trust should always be in God. We should never rely on
man, a government, a system, the money and other resources
we have. Don’t rely on your strength, don’t rely on how smart you
are. Instead, trust God! He wants us to trust in Him.
Where is your hope and trust at the moment? Is it in man? Is it
in the stuff you have or the stuff you have accquired? Is it in the
elaborate plans you have formulated for yourself?
I want to challenge you to trust in the Lord completely. The
enemy will always try and make you doubt, he will always
try and use fear but don’t let those things dissuade you from
trusting in the Lord. Hold on tightly to God’s
word!
David repented of his sin and God restored him. He can do the
same for us. Trust in the Lord completely. He can be trusted!
Amen!
Rolain
kingspeech 