I finally finished reading the book of 1 Chronicles this morning. Whew! It took me a little while to get through it because there are a lot genealogies and lists in it, but there were also some very interesing parts. It's mostly a history of Israel up through when Solomon is annoited king. I was wondering about something I read in Chapter 21. Verse 1 says that "Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel." Joab questioned David in verse 3 saying, "my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? Why then does my lord require this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt in Israel?" After the census had been taken, in says in verses 7 and 8, "And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He struck israel. So David said to God, 'I have sinned greatly, because i have done this thing; but now, I pray, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly."
So, I was wondering, why was it such a sin for David to take a census in Israel. Most countries take a census now, don't they? So why was it a sin for Israel? Maybe I am missing something in the text, but I haven't been able to figure this out. Any thoughts?
I will leave you with a verse from chapter 28. David is speaking to Solomon in verse 9 and says, "As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. if you seek Him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever."
I think that is something we should all strive for: to serve God with a LOYAL HEART and a WILLING MIND. That is difficult sometimes because we often already have our minds made up about something, just because it's what we've always been told, or what we feel comfortable with, but our minds should always be willing to let God teach us new things. We should be constantly growing. I once heard a preacher say it like this: "Christians are like trees: you're either growing, or you're dying."
Hope you're all finding ways to GROW this week!
3 comments:
I'm going to have to ear mark this one for when I finally make it to the Chronicles. I love it when you ask question in your Thurs Thoughts.
We turned Sage's crib into the toddler bed when she started to crawl out of it. Those firstborns are super clever! I just want to wait and see if you get a "poo mural". Course I'd hate to see her do that to the crib that her Daddy made for her. Wow, I can't belive she climbed out of that. It's so tall. You have a Amazon daughter.
I'm rambling now. Sorry.
Actually we had to get her a new crib back before Christmas, because the slats were too far apart on the end of that one, and she kept getting stuck. And she has already made a poo mural, I just forgot to post about it. :)
I read and re-read the verses and I'm going to have to see if my Bible handbook says anything about it. I can't think of any particular reason why God would consider it a sin for David to count them. Of course there are many things we can't wrap our minds around. I'm in Leviticus right now and all the details about the sacrifices are a little too much =) I'm so glad we don't have to do that.
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