2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21 detail the story of David and his census. For full details, I highly recommend you read those two chapters, but I come with an offering of a summary. Satan “stood up against Israel” (1 Chronicles 21:1) and King David was moved against Israel (2 Samuel 24:1) to organize a census, which was the counting of the population of Israel and Judah. The census in itself was not the problem. When you dive deeper, and especially with the words of Joab in 1 Chronicles 21:3, you will recognise that issue was David wanted an assured victory and so, He disregarded God’s promise that He would multiply His people. Joab says, also in 2 Samuel 24:3, in response to the king’s request for the census: “And Joab answered, “May the Lord make His people a hundred times more than they are. But, 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?””
I related to this story heavily, particularly after I was able to identify wherein lay the sin. It was David’s pride and even moreso, his self-reliance. My fundamental issue as a Christian is trusting God. I believe in Him, don’t get me wrong: but sometimes I don’t believe Him. To be honest, sometimes I even forget He has a part to play in the story. It’s difficult to believe in what I cannot see. It was never a big deal to me, because after all, mustard-seed faith can move a mountain (Matthew 17:20). What I know now is that while mustard-seed faith is legitimate and will work, a larger sum of believing God is worth your while. Abraham’s faith was accounted to him for righteousness (Romans 4:3). Your level of faith is your partnership with God’s will and work in you, and with you. He will do all He can and more with what you have to offer. But can you imagine what your daily life would look like with a constant acknowledgment of the advantage you have as a child of God?
God is good. He can be trusted. It’s hard to believe it when things don’t align with what we believe is good, and when really difficult things happen. But His character is tried and proven, as is His love for us. And even if you don’t yet have testimony of your own, His word says it all. Psalm 37:23-25 says: “The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, And He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the Lord upholds him with His hand. I have been young, and now am old; Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, Nor his descendants begging bread.” Jeremiah 29:11 states: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Again: God is good, He can be trusted.
If you don’t feel that way, practice it until you do. Get to know God, because the more you know Him, the easier it is to trust Him. When you walk into a room, tell yourself that He is there with you. When you find yourself in spaces and predicaments, act like you serve a God who is right next to you, not like the limitations that are burdening you. Engage Him – tell Him what’s on your mind, ask Him to open your eyes to see where He is. Create enough room for you and God wherever you find yourself. Don’t be like David, only accounting for what you can see rather than who you belong to, and the promise He has made. Because at the end of the day, when He shows up, you will be able to say you knew it all along. Let your Faith be accounted to you for righteousness. Become a friend of God, He is already a friend of yours (2 Corinthians 5:20 MSG).
I pray that even as you practice, it becomes your reality: that your faith in God changes how you walk into a room, and that your knowledge of God informs your confidence and manages any form of fear. In Jesus’ name, amen.
