Today’s passage: 1 Chronicles 21:1-30
Helpful thoughts:
- Satan can tempt. But it is never right to say, “The Devil made me do it.”
- Satan tempted David, and David did what David wanted to do.
- God had built David’s name, this act of a census was David’s way of taking the credit for himself.
- 2 Samuel 24:1 even includes the component of God’s sovereign will in the whole matter.
- Like in the book of Job, even Satan cannot do anything that God does not allow.
- By God’s grace we are able to submit to the Lord and resist the Devil, and when we do, he will flee (James 4:7).
- Satan tempted David, and David did what David wanted to do.
- In a rare occurrence, God allows David to choose between three options for consequence.
- We can choose our sin, we don’t usually get to choose our consequences.
- David didn’t get to choose whether or not there would be a consequence, but when he did choose, he chose the prospect of the Lord’s mercy.
- This property which was purchased became the location of the Temple Solomon would later build.
Questions to consider:
- Why would it be right to say that Joab was truly loving David by telling him what he wanted to do was wrong? (Ephesians 4:11-16) What was Joab trying to save David and Israel from? What would have been true if David had heeded Joab’s loving rebuke?
- Ornan the Jebusite was given a Hebrew name, this gives evidence (Along with his actions) that he had become a worshiper of God! How does his place in this narrative serve to contrast the actions of David? Is the worship of Jesus Christ in our blood or bought with His own?
- What leadership principles can we learn from this passage?