Written by guest blogger Stephanie Isidore
1 Chronicles 21:1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
Everything evil that is done, the devil has a hand in it somewhere. I was looking at David and why he went out to number the people…
God did not request that His people be numbered. They were not going to war. But the devil stood up like a prickle on a rose, provoking David to number the people.
God gave David three options of judgment for the sin he committed. When David sees that regardless as to how he looks at it, judgment would be too much for him to bear, he decided to opt out of choosing one himself–he let God choose for Him. He did this because: 1. he knows that God would choose the best option, and 2. at some point in time God would have mercy on him, as opposed to him being left to the enemy’s hands & will. God chose the shortest of the three options (even in judgment God is still righteous); He could have chosen one of the other two judgments but He chose three days of suffering.
Just as God’s commanded destruction begins, God sees David on his sackcloth and repents; God stops and turns the punishment around and causes a cease-punishment to occur. In those days a sacrifice was made for the forgiveness of sins. Today we have the holy name of Jesus and His blood that was shed so that we no longer have to make sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins. After the sacrifice was made, in God’s eyes, he was forgiven. Then David saw the angel returning the sword back into his sheath which meant that God had forgiven David and ceased from continuing His punishment.
Why did this happen? Because David had integrity. He had spoken in essence, ‘Lord, deal with me and me alone because it was my fault and not anyone else’s. Don’t let others perish because of me.’ That struck God’s heart to the core, if I may say, because the majority of the time we would still plead and say, ‘But Lord, this person or that person also had a part’, and not fully own up to our own mistake.
After reading this portion of scripture, it has shown me that despite how you fall into error, God will always give you a way out before completing the error so it does not become an error, but once the error is accomplished, own up to your mistake. God is aware of all those who took part but everyone’s judgment is different will take place at a different time. God is a personal God, which is why He said in Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me; and in the following verse”…For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God…”
If you’ve accepted the true and living God, accept Him fully and completely knowing that in return He accepts you fully and completely, giving you individual and intricate detailed attention to your life from beginning to end.
Not leaving out a punctuation or word unedited but ensuring your story is one pleasing for Him to keep on writing because you are just that special. Yes, even in the midst of millions of other people God can and will do just that.