Daily Devotion

Selection Taken From:
A Year with God by R.P. Nettelhorst

Make this the year you let God's Word "dwell in you richly"---and marvel at the results! Each entry in this 365-day devotional features Scripture verses in which God speaks, accompanied by insights and applications to enhance your understanding. Learn what God says about hope and fear; perseverance and quitting; companionship and isolation; and more! 384 pages, softcover from Nelson, Copyright 2010.

It Is Enough

When it was all done, David was overwhelmed with guilt because he had counted the people, replacing trust with statistics. And David prayed to GOD, "I have sinned badly in what I have just done. But now GOD forgive my guilt—I've been really stupid."
When David got up the next morning, the word of GOD had already come to Gad the prophet, David's spiritual advisor, "Go and give David this message: 'GOD has spoken thus: There are three things I can do to you; choose one out of the three and I'll see that it's done."'
Gad came to deliver the message: "Do you want three years of famine in the land, or three months of running from your enemies while they chase you down, or three days of an epidemic on the country? Think it over and make up your mind. What shall I tell the one who sent me?"
David told Gad, "They're all terrible! But I'd rather be punished by GOD, whose mercy is great, than fall into human hands."
So GOD let loose an epidemic from morning until suppertime. From Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand people died. But when the angel reached out over Jerusalem to destroy it, GOD felt the pain of the terror and told the angel who was spreading death among the people, "Enough's enough! Pull back!"
The angel of GOD had just reached the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. David looked up and saw the angel hovering between earth and sky, sword drawn and about to strike Jerusalem. David and the elders bowed in prayer and covered themselves with rough burlap. - 2 Samuel 24:10-16 MSG

Errors have a way of multiplying themselves. David had done something wrong when he conducted his census and God held him responsible. Because David was the king of Israel, what he did affected the nation. The prophet Gad offered David three choices for punishment. David noticed a difference between them. Certainly, they all came from the hand of God, but one required human involvement, while two were the actions of God alone. David decided that whatever the punishment, better that people not be a part of it. With God, mercy was possible. With people, mercy was unlikely. David knew he could trust God just as much as he knew he could not trust people.

So God sent the three-day plague, wiping out many people. Why did those men suffer for David's mistake? They had benefited from David's rule; likewise, they suffered for it. The king stood as representative for his people. What blessings or curses came to him, came to all. Our wrongdoings affect everyone around us, because our lives affect everyone around us.