1 Chronicles 21 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

God was displeased with this thing, so He struck Israel. ⁸ David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing. But now, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”

⁹ The Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying, ¹⁰ “Go and speak to David, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord, “I offer you three things; choose for yourself one of them, which I will do to you.”’” ¹¹ So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Take for yourself ¹² either three years of famine, or three months to be swept away before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the Lord, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now, therefore, consider what answer I shall return to Him who sent me.” ¹³ David said to Gad, “I am in great distress; please let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are very great. But do not let me fall into the hand of man.”

¹⁴ So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel; 70,000 men of Israel fell. ¹⁵ And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it; but as he was about to destroy it, the Lord saw and was sorry over the calamity, and said to the destroying angel, “It is enough; now relax your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ¹⁶ Then David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces. ¹⁷ David said to God, “Is it not I who commanded to count the people? Indeed, I am the one who has sinned and done very wickedly, but these sheep, what have they done? O Lord my God, please let Your hand be against me and my father’s household, but not against Your 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 build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ¹⁹ So David went up at the word of Gad, which he spoke in the name of the Lord. ²⁰ Now Ornan turned back and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. And Ornan was threshing wheat. ²¹ As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out from the threshing floor and prostrated himself before David with his face to the ground. ²² Then David said to Ornan, “Give me the site of this threshing floor, that I may build on it an altar to the Lord; for the full price you shall give it to me, that the plague may be restrained from the people.” ²³ Ornan said to David, “Take it for yourself; and let my lord the king do what is good in his sight. See, I will give the oxen for burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for wood and the wheat for the grain offering; I will give it all.” ²⁴ But King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, or offer a burnt offering which costs me nothing.” ²⁵ So David gave Ornan 600 shekels of gold by weight for the site. ²⁶ Then David built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And he called to the Lord and He answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering. ²⁷ The Lord commanded the angel, and he put his sword back in its sheath.

²⁸ At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he offered sacrifice there. ²⁹ For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were in the high place at Gibeon at that time. ³⁰ But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was terrified by the sword of the angel of the Lord.

David recognized that he had sinned and repented saying:  “I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing. But now, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”    There still though, was a consequence for his sin. Romans 6:23 says: the wages of sin is death.      Something dies as a result of sin. There is a spiritual death, a breaking of the relationship between man and God. In this case, in today’s text there was a significant natural, physical price that would be paid. Because of David’s position of great authority, his sin led to severe consequences for the entire nation. The responsibility of authority and leadership is no small thing. James 3:1 says:    Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment.    That stricter judgment comes because as a teacher or a leader, as one who has authority over God’s people, many others are influenced and may suffer the consequences of poor leadership. Many people can be led astray by the error or poor decision of a leader.

In today’s text David realized that while the consequences might be severe, the best alternative was to be subject to God. He said: “I am in great distress; please let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are very great. But do not let me fall into the hand of man.”     David was a man, like we are. He struggled with human nature and throughout his life even though he loved God deeply, he sometimes fell short of God’s righteousness. God said of David:  ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’ (Acts 13:22)  Part of David’s greatness as a leader was that when he sinned, when he fell short of God’s plan, he was quick to repent and turn back to God. He recognized that the best place to be was with God because God’s mercy is great.

In today’s text David did something else all great leaders should do.    David said to God, “Is it not I who commanded to count the people? Indeed, I am the one who has sinned and done very wickedly, but these sheep, what have they done? O Lord my God, please let Your hand be against me and my father’s household, but not against Your people that they should be plagued.” Like Moses before him, David stood between the wrath of God and the people. He interceded on their behalf, offering to take on the full weight and responsibility of the consequences of sin. That’s what Jesus, the greatest leader, master and teacher the world has ever known did. He took the full weight of the consequence of sin on Himself.    While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8) The way of the world would be that a servant would lay down his life for his master, the king. Jesus, the Master, the King of kings laid down His life for us.

In today’s text David was going to build an alter to sacrifice to God. Someone else offered to provide what was needed for the sacrifice. David’s response was:   “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, or offer a burnt offering which costs me nothing.”  For us, there is nothing we can add to the sacrifice Jesus already gave. He paid the price for sin with His own life. Indeed:   the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23) It is a free gift to us. What we could not do on our own, redeem ourselves from sin, Jesus did for us. In John 15:13-14, Jesus says:  “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.  You are My friends if you do what I command you.”     Paul says it this way, in response to Christ’s sacrifice for us:    Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:1-2) In truth it costs us nothing. Jesus paid the price. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 say:  do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?  For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.      That seems reasonable; That we would give to Him what He bought.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit thank you for Your great mercy, that although I sinned, You died for me. While there is nothing more I can do, You have paid the price in full, I willingly give my body and my life back to You, as a living sacrifice. I am not my own, I am Yours. Holy Spirit be my guide, my teacher that if I should have any responsibility in the lives of others, it would be according to Your will and Your way. Amen.