I Chronicles 21

Sooooo today I was reading through I Chronicles 19 - 22...and something in chapter 21 intrigued me.

1 Chronicles 21

 ¹  And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

 ²  And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it.

 ³  And Joab answered, The LORD make his people an hundred times so many more as they be: but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? why then doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?

 ⁴  Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem.

 ⁵  And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword.

 ⁶  But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them: for the king's word was abominable to Joab.

 ⁷  And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel.

 ⁸  And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing: but now, I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

 ⁹  And the LORD spake unto Gad, David's seer, saying,

 ¹⁰  Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.

 ¹¹  So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Choose thee

 ¹²  Either three years' famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.

 ¹³  And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man.

 ¹⁴  So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.

 ¹⁵  And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

 ¹⁶  And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the LORD stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.

 ¹⁷  And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, O LORD my God, be on me, and on my father's house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued.

 ¹⁸  Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

 ¹⁹  And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the LORD.

 ²⁰  And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.

 ²¹  And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshingfloor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.

 ²²  Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an altar therein unto the LORD: thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people.

 ²³  And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all.

 ²⁴  And king David said to Ornan, Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings without cost.

 ²⁵  So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.

 ²⁶  And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the LORD; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.

 ²⁷  And the LORD commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof.

 ²⁸  At that time when David saw that the LORD had answered him in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there.

 ²⁹  For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon.

 ³⁰  But David could not go before it to enquire of God: for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

Go and re-read verses 11-13.  

God gave David the opportunity to choose his consequence for the sin he had committed.  

Someone wise said, "Sin will take you further than you wanted to go...it will be more painful than you ever imagined...and it will hurt more than yourself."

We get...Let me begin again.  I get this notion that I can choose to not obey and it will only hurt me.  It's such a lie.  Sin has a ripple effect.

When I grew up, we had a pond on our property.  It was a super-cool, spring-fed pond.  It had a shallow end where my Dad had sand hauled in to create our very own beach area.  It was 12 feet deep in the center.  Oh -- I remember something creepy...  The beach area was sandy and so nice...but the remainder of the pond "floor" was this black mucky stuff.  It was soo gross.  (Shudder.)  Also, we did not stock the pond with fish.  God used some birds to transport fish eggs (from wading in other fish-infested waters) to our pond.  We had mostly blue gill.  Bryan and I would fish.  I, of course, would not touch the fish.  Look, I will take a slimy worm and skewer it on a hook and watch as it attempts to free itself from the impaling fish hook, but I will not UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES remove a fish from a hook.  I learned a long time ago that fish have that razor-shark fin on their back.  No thank you!!!  My parents did not raise a fool...a nutcase, not a fool.  I leave the fish removal to my dear sweet brother.  :)  

Sometimes in the summer, we would skip rocks across the pond.  I wonder if I can still do that?  Hmmmmm...  And other times, we would just heave the rocks in to the water.  I remember watching the ripples...how they would spread.

Ripples.  That what sin does.  It hurts us and hurts those around us.

We don't get to choose our consequences...and in my experience, the consequences are more painful than the pleasure of the sin.  The Bible says that the pleasure of sin lasts for a season.  The consequences can be life-long and disastrous.  

Ask yourself...If I choose this __________ (insert whatever you are pondering doing), will tomorrow or the day after or a week or a month or a year or five years or when I stand before the Lord, will I regret this choice?  Think about the big picture.  Is this _________________ (whatever it is) worth the hurt and pain that I am cause myself and those that I love?

Today...

...I ate pumpkin mini-muffins (ummm...gluten-free and homemade) for breakfast and supper.


...I made edits to a huge document.  Somewhere along the way (I think it was around 2 p.m.), I exaggeratedly said outloud, "This is going to drive me completely insane and/or kill me."  Such an untruth spoken from my lips.  I don't think the edits made to specifications are actually going to put me in the nuthouse or have the men with white coats come and buckle me up.  Will I die from a paper-cut or from a typing frenzy?  Highly unlikely...


...I meandered through the lobby and saw the largest turtle in the pond (still nameless) sitting on a rock soaking up the sun.  He's soo cute.  He deserves a great name...not sure what it should be. 


...I read something interesting.  Combining a tablespoon of liquid castille soap with a teaspoon of coconut milk makes excellent shampoo!  I totally want to try this...but I forgot to buy coconut milk at Woodmans.  You see...I'm not a fan of coconut.  I like the scent but hate, loathe, despise the taste.  (Shudder!)  Of course, I used to hate, loathe, and despise blueberries and now I love them.  I love them for their health benefits.  I've tried coconut recently (and by "recently" I do mean accidentally at a church potluck within the past year) and to tolerate it...well, I would eat it if it was the ONLY thing left on the planet.  Or if we were trapped in a bomb shelter and there was a choice between mushrooms and coconut.  


...I drove to Woodmans singing along with Julie Andrews on the Sound of Music soundtrack...and I forgot the windows were down when I was a stoplight and the driver in the car next to me gave me this look as if to say, "Honey, don't quit your day job!"  I wanted to pause the music and inform her, "I don't plan on it.  I love, love, LOVE my day job!"  :)  I didn't.  I know better.


...is Wednesday which means Bible study night!  We finished our book, Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss...and now we must wait until the fall for our next book study.  We have to wait ALL summer long for the next book study.  I will focus on reading through the Bible -- which I am thoroughly enjoying.  In Second Kings, I am mildly amused when at the end of several of the verses the author of said book asks "...are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?"  Only one time THUS FAR does the author end this statement with an emphatic period...all the other times, he uses a rhetorical question.  I am assuming it's rhetorical.  Do you think it's rhetorical?


...I had a great day!  I hope you did too!  

Numbers 33:55-56 & Deuteronomy 1:44

Beginning in verse 50 (of Numbers 33), God is giving instructions to Moses for the conquering of Canaan.  In verse 55 - the second half -- God said, "...those that which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.  Moreover it shall come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto them." 

God clearly explains the consequences of not obeying.  We can choose to obey or not obey...we cannot, however, choose our consequences.

 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In Deuteronomy 1:44, Moses is telling the Children of Israel -- "And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah."

I love the mental picture that this paints.  Clearly, you can picture the angry Amorites swarming like bees...

Genesis 10:23b

"...but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings."

My Hailey's Bible Handbook had an interesting thought regarding the darkness, "Darkness.  This was a direct blow at Ra, Egypt's sun-god.  There was midnight darkness over Egypt for 3 days; but light where Israelites dwelt.  Pharaoh yielded; but again changed his mind."  p. 123

Can you imagine midnight-darkness for three whole days?  Wow!  And yet, Pharaoh still choose to harden his heart.  Each plague seemed to be "bigger" than the plague before...although the first plague, I think, would've been enough for me (had I been Pharaoh) to let God's-chosen people go.  The water turning to blood -- GROSS!  And it says that it stank!  Think of the dead fish!!!!  Ick!