2 Samuel 24: 10
10 And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. 11 For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, 12 Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. 13 So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. 14 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man. 15 So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. 16 And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand.
David had sinned against God by numbering his people after God had told him not to do that. David knew he had done wrong and asked for forgiveness. In response, God gave him three choices, seven years of famine, fleeing for three months before David’s enemies, or three days of pestilence in his land.
David’s first choice was to be punished by his God rather than by his enemies. Although David was a sinner like the rest of us, he also recognized how merciful God is toward us. He knew that in the long run God would be more kind to him than any of his enemies would ever be toward him. So, he chose the shortest of punishments that God could dish out to him, three days’ pestilence in the land.
Seventy thousand people perished because of David’s sin. Even so, God was about to kill more people before He stopped and repented. God was so merciful that he couldn’t even go through with the punishment that David had chosen – He stopped before he destroyed Jerusalem.
David made a good choice that day. He was able to make the choice because he had learned of the goodness of God and how merciful he really is toward us. He knew that God’s love was much stronger toward him than his enemy’s hate was toward him. It wasn’t an easy decision at all because David knew that he was in a great straight. He knew he had to take some punishment for his sin, but he also knew his God well enough to recognize that with God’s punishment also comes God’s love.
You may be asking, “So, what does this have to do with – blessings?”
I see so many Christians making blind decisions in their lives without considering the consequences of those decisions. They make decisions based upon how much they can gain from the world around them rather than making decisions based upon how much God will be able to bless them following the decision-making process. They look to their enemies, in many cases, for a piece of good fortune instead of looking to God for a future supply of blessings from his loving abundance of gifts.
Let me give you an example: I work with computers much more than most people and have somewhat of a good basic understanding of how they work and how to fix things when they break. So, many folks come to me with their problems and ask for help in solving them. I’m generally glad to do so and in most cases I’m successful. In a few cases there have been things wrong that not even I can fix.
One of the problems people sometimes bring to me is how to copy a purchased CD of music onto a blank CD in order to return the purchased CD to a business that deals in the trading of such items. Or, how to copy a purchased computer program onto another CD in order to save someone the expense of purchasing their own copy. In either case they are performing an illegal act in order to save themselves a few dollars. I even hear them provide the argument, “Well, Bill Gates has so much money that he will never miss the income from this.”
I have to admit that there were times, years ago, when I copied software instead of purchasing my own. I thought along the same lines. Then, one day the thought hit me – Bill Gates is a man, just like any other man, in the eyes of God. He is no different than my next-door neighbor except that he has much more money. God looks upon me the same if I steal something from Bill Gates, or if I steal something from my next-door neighbor. Stealing is stealing! Exodus 20:15 still says, “Thou shalt not steal.”
Zechariah 5
1 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll. 2 And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. 3 Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. 4 I will bring it forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.
God tries to make it clear that He disapproves of stealing. Here he even puts a curse on the house of a thief.
So, how are you managing your financial dealings? Are you turning everything over to the Lord and being honest with your neighbor? Are you trying to swindle the government out of a few dollars at tax time? By the way, I have always thought it was a pretty small price to pay in order to live in this wonderful country that God has given to us. But we all need to look at our lives and examine ourselves to see if we are doing anything that would deprive someone of their rights to something we may be wanting to keep from them.
Every one of us would like to have more money to spend. My brother and I are both pilots. He recently sold his home and purchased property adjacent to a grass airstrip. With my old Cessna 170, I would love to have the money to move in down the strip from him. But, I don’t have the money. I wish I did. There are many other things you and I can think of that we would like to have if we only had more money.
But, I have to remind myself of how much God has already blessed me – beyond what I would expect or even deserve. How did I get my Cessna? My first plane was a Cessna 150 (two-seater) which I purchased for $2500 plus a 23-foot sail boat which I had not been able to sell. I had tried and tried to sell that boat over a period of several years with no results. People would come and look at it and talk like they really wanted it, but something would always happen to keep us from closing the deal. It wasn’t until after I had traded it for the airplane that I understood what God was up to. He knew what the future held for me and that I would need the boat to trade for the airplane.
Shortly after getting into flying, and, while I was at the airport one afternoon, polishing, I observed a tail-dragger (an airplane with a tail-wheel) doing touch and go landings. It was the most beautiful thing for me to watch. As the plane settled down to the airstrip, the wings slightly rocking back and forth just before the wheels touched down. After about the third landing by this airplane – I had stopped polishing and taken up watching the tail-dragger – I simply said to the Lord, “It sure would be fun to have a plane like that.” Before another year had passed I did have a plane like that – the one I still fly. God has been so good to me in providing the desires of my heart. But, it didn’t start happening until I had made a decision to always give my neighbor more than I took from him.
Even if I find something which doesn’t belong to me and I cannot find the owner, I remind myself each time I look at the item that it will never belong to me. It still belongs to whoever lost it. Although it is in my possession, I am not its owner. Its owner is somewhere looking for its return. I may never be able to get it back to its original owner but it still does not belong to me. Can you imagine what God must feel when he hears a Christian say, “Finders keepers, losers weepers!”
I have discovered that I can get many more quality blessings from God than I can from this world. You can swindle your neighbor if you like. You can even swindle me if you like. You may end up with a few more dollars in your pocket than you had previously. But, in the process you will lose the blessings of the One who cares for you and loves you more than anyone. But He also has a standard which he expects us to live up to. It’s pretty simple: “Thou shalt not steal.” Live up to that standard and He CAN bless you. Ignore that standard and you are stuck trying to get your blessings from the world around you. The world around you is not about to give anything away. It’s a pretty selfish world.
You have to be the one to decide. David made a decision based upon the knowledge that God is easier to deal with than this world. How do you want to be blessed? By God or by this selfish world?