‘“three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies, with their swords overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the LORD—days of plague in the land, with the angel of the LORD ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should answer the one who sent me.’”
~ I Chronicles 21:12
Hi James and Ellen,
Have you ever heard your dad use the word consequence? Consequence is a big word. Consequence is a word that you are probably beginning to comprehend. What will your dad do to you if you disobey him? Your dad may spank you. Your dad may have you to stand in a corner. Your dad may send you to your room. What your dad does to you when you disobey him is the consequence for you not obeying him. There is about a three hundred acre lake within easy walking distance of the house where your grandpaa grew up. There are bullheads, perch, northern pike, crappies, carp and other fish in this lake. Your grandpaa would almost always catch fish when he went fishing in this lake. Your grandpaa still really likes to fish. When your grandpaa was a young kid and when he wanted to go fishing in the afternoon, your grandpaa would ask you dad’s grandpa in the morning if there was something that he would like to have your grandpaa do before he went fishing. Your grandpaa’s dad would sometimes tell your grandpaa the barn’s gutter could be cleaned or the lawn could be mowed or something else could be done. Your grandpaa’s dad rarely told your grandpaa that he had to do something; your grandpaa’s dad almost always told your grandpaa that there was something specific that could be done. Your grandpaa knew if he did what your dad’s grandpa said could be done, that he would be able to go fishing in the afternoon. If your grandpaa did not do what your dad’s grandpa said could be done, your grandpaa knew that there would be a consequence. When your grandpaa was not much older than you are right now James, one of his cousins stayed at your grandpaa’s house for a number of days. Doug was your grandpaa’s age. Doug wanted to go fishing with your grandpaa. When your grandpaa was a kid and when he went fishing alone, he always went fishing by the dam. It took about fifteen minutes to walk to the dam from the house where your grandpaa lived. Your grandpaa could see from the bank next to the dam the house where he lived and the garage next to the house. Your grandpaa had a rule that he was to obey. When your grandpaa saw the garage door was up, your grandpaa was to stop fishing and come home. Your grandpaa this time when he went fishing with his cousin Doug decided to stay a little longer after he noticed that the garage door was up. Your grandpaa wanted to finish using up all the worms. When Doug and your grandpaa finally got home, do you think that your grandpaa’s ma and dad were happy with them? Your grandpaa’s ma and dad were very disappointed with your grandpaa – that your grandpaa did not obey them by heading for home right away when he saw that the garage door was up. They told your grandpaa that he could not go fishing with Doug again while Doug was visiting at your grandpaa’s house. Even though your grandpaa was not happy about the consequence for not having obeyed a rule that his ma and dad had for him, your grandpaa learned from the consequence as he did not want to disappoint his ma and dad again.
David is someone who was very special to God. David wrote a lot of Psalms praising God. David was a good king. You can want to be like David. You can really learn a lot from David. David though had times when he was not obedient to God. No matter how special David was to God, David had to face the consequence for what he did when he let Satan have a victory in his life. 1 Chronicles 21 tells the consequence that David had to endure when he allowed Satan to influence his life. Satan will want you to do things which are opposite of what God would want you to do. David when he was the king decided one day that he wanted to know how many people he was the king over. Do you think that there something wrong with David wanting to know how many people he ruled as king? Was this something that God wanted David to do or was this something that David wanted to do? It was something that David wanted to do. What do you think caused David to want to know how people he was king over? Do you think that it was pride? David even had his army commander – Joab, tell him that it was wrong for him to count how many people he was king over. David did not listen to Joab. What did God do? God began to punish His specially chosen people – the Israelite people group. That was a wakeup call for David. David was made to realize that he had done something that was very wrong. When God decided it was time to punish His specially chosen people – or in this case David, God did not slap his hands or give him a spanking; God caused people to die. Sometimes God had to do something – which may seem awful to you, to get His specially chosen people to be obedient to Him. God even allowed David to decide the kind of punishment which He would cause to happen. Verse 12 has God giving David three choices to choose from ‘“three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies, with their swords overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the LORD—days of plague in the land, with the angel of the LORD ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should answer the one who sent me.’” Because one guy – David, who had been blessed by God so often and in so many ways decided to do what God did not want him to do, 70,000 guys were killed by God’s angel. How would you like to live with that consequence for something that you thought that you just had to do? When you make a decision, it is always good to think a lot about how your decision might affect the lives of others. God is very serious about you needing to be obedient to Him.
If you obey how God desires you to live your lives, you are listening to and obeying God’s voice. If you do not listen to and obey God’s voice, the enemy – Satan, has you listening to him and sinning. Is having to endure a God ordered consequence for acquiescing to the prompting of a Satan crony something that you want to happen to you?
I Chronicles 21 (26)