Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. Psalm 51:10

But after he had taken the census, David’s conscience began to bother him. And he said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly by taking this census. Please forgive my guilt, Lord, for doing this foolish thing.” The next morning the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, who was David’s seer. This was the message:  “Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will give you three choices. Choose one of these punishments, and I will inflict it on you.’”

So Gad came to David and asked him, “Will you choose three years of famine throughout your land, three months of fleeing from your enemies, or three days of severe plague throughout your land? Think this over and decide what answer I should give the Lord who sent me.”

“I’m in a desperate situation!” David replied to Gad. “But let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great. Do not let me fall into human hands.”

So the Lordsent a plague upon Israel that morning, and it lasted for three days. A total of 70,000 people died throughout the nation, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south.  But as the angel was preparing to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented and said to the death angel, “Stop! That is enough!” At that moment the angel of the Lordwas by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

When David saw the angel, he said to the Lord, “I am the one who has sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent as sheep—what have they done? Let your anger fall against me and my family.”

That day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lordon the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

So David went up to do what the Lordhad commanded him.  When Araunah saw the king and his men coming toward him, he came and bowed before the king with his face to the ground.  “Why have you come, my lord the king?” Araunah asked.

David replied, “I have come to buy your threshing floor and to build an altar to the Lord there, so that he will stop the plague.”

“Take it, my lord the king, and use it as you wish,” Araunah said to David. “Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and you can use the threshing boards and ox yokes for wood to build a fire on the altar.  I will give it all to you, Your Majesty, and may the Lord your God accept your sacrifice.”

But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.” So David paid him fifty pieces of silver for the threshing floor and the oxen.

David built an altar there to the Lord and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the Lord answered his prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.   2 Samuel 24:10-25

David, a man after God’s own heart as proclaimed in the Word of God, had a conscience that bothered him.  I believe the closer we are to God, the more sensitive our conscience will be.  Sometimes we are so blinded by our own sins that we may be desensitized in one area/aspect of our lives and not in another.  It is this way in the lives of many of the great men of the bible.  It is this way in the lives of many great men  and women of God.  It is this way in my lowly life. 

David’s response to God was always for God to deal with him, not man.  David understood that men are cruel, but God even in His wrath was merciful.  Men didn’t care for others, God, even when angry and meting out punishment or chastisement, did so in love.  David would rather be in the hands of the Lord whether He was “on God’s good side” or “on God’s bad side.”  David trusted every aspect of his life to God, especially his sins.  David knew that God could, should and would deal with the sin in his life and that God would make him acceptable to God.  Now, that is strong faith, to trust so completely in an unseen God than to give place to the known realm of man.

This is what I strive for in my own life.  I know that I will not always get things right.  Look at the mess that I have helped make within my marriage.  But, I know that, as I am doing now, when I stop and say, “God, I have made a perfect mess of my life, my marriage.  I do not deserve your mercy, but I ask for it because you have promised to be merciful.  I know I must deal with the consequences of my choices, but I know that you can also glorify your name through this whole situation and make it into something useful for you.  So, let it be.”  That is when God will heal me and my situation.

At the end of this scripture, David answers Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it, for I cannot present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.”  When I have sinned, when my pride has gotten in the way, when I think I know what is best for my life, thereby placing myself above God, then, I must be willing to sacrifice accordingly when I turn and repent.  If I’m not willing to give to the Lord something that costs me, then my repentance isn’t real and I am only offering lip service to “get out of trouble.”  It is my willingness to give up or sacrifice something of myself, that demonstrates the depths of my repentance. 

Let’s suppose now that I have recognized and repented of my grumblings and complainings against my husband in this public venue, my husband decides that he no longer is willing to allow me to post on my blog.  Am I willing to sacrifice that, believing that God in His infinite mercy will provide a channel for the vision that He gave me to continue.  Yes, I think I am to that point.  Do I want that to happen?  No.  But, I’m willing to accept the consequences.  Those consequences are part of the judgment.  I can ask the Lord to walk with me through those tough times, the ones that I’ve brought on myself, but I don’t feel like I can say, “Lord, I screwed up, will you make it all go away?”  Again, I must be willing to accept the consequences and whatever solution God has in store for me.

Well, I’m rambling again so I think I’ll leave you with the study notes on the passage above.

Note on verses 12-14

Both David and the Israelites were guilty of sin (24:1).  David’s sin was pride, but the Bible does not say why God was angry with the people of Israel.  Perhaps it was due to their support of the rebellions of Absalom (chapters 15-1 and Sheba (chapter 20), or perhaps they put their security in military and financial prosperity rather than in God, as David di.  God dealt with the whole nation through David, who exemplified the national sin of pride.

God gave David three choices.  Each was a form of punishment God had told the people they could expect if they disobeyed his laws (disease - Deuteronomy 28:20-22, famine - 28:23,24; war - 28:25, 26).  David wisely chose the form of punishment that came most directly from God.  He knew how brutal and harsh men in war could be, and he also knew God’s great mercy.  When you sin greatly, turn back to God.  To be punished by him is far better than to take your chances without him.

Note on verse 18

Many believe that this threshing floor where David built the altar is the location where Abraham nearly sacrificed his son Isaac (Genesis 22:1-18).  After David’s death, Solomon built the Temple on this spot.  Centuries later, Jesus would teach and preach here.

Note on verse 25

The book of 2 Samuel describes David’s reign.  Since the Israelites first entered the Promised Land under Joshua, they had been struggling to unite the nation and drive out the wicked inhabitants.  Now, after more than 400 years, Israel was finally at peace.  David had accomplished what no leader before him, judge or king, had done.  His administration was run on the principle of dedication to God and to the well-being of the people.  Yet David also sinned.  Despite his sins, however, the Bible calls David a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14: Acts 13:22) because when he sinned, he recognized it and confessed his sins to God.  David committed his life to God and remained loyal to him throughout his lifetime.  Psalms gives an even deeper insight into David’s love for God.

My sin has been not honoring and reverencing my husband as the word tells me to do in Ephesians 5:33, “and the wife must respect her husband.”  Even now, I know that the Lord has His plans for me and for this whole situation.  I know that even now, God can and will continue to use me.  He will raise me up and give me wings to fly.  Until then, He is perfecting me in the refining fires and as in days of old, I sit in sackcloth with ashes upon my head.

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.  Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.  Psalm 139:23-24

May God provide the increase.