Something Unavoidable: God Is At Work - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 1 Chronicles 21:14,

"So the Lord sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead."

David counted his fighting men, thereby expressing his faith in his army's strength and not in the Lord who had been providing him so many military victories. We are told that God punished Israel for it, verse 7.

Following this punishment, David repented and prayed, "I have sinned greatly by doing this. Now, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing." Verse 8.

In response God gave David three options - none of which was any possibility of avoiding God's impact on the nation for David's actions: three years of famine, three months of military losses or three days of plague in the land. David chose the third option and we are told seventy thousand men of Israel died from it.

I note that God's plague for David's actions followed David's repentance. I suspect the cause for the plague was something beyond that repentance, that the Lord wanted to impact the whole nation with a key lesson: faith is important and carries with it the issues of life and death.

Sometimes the Lord has on his agenda something beyond our repentance. For us today, passages in this regard my include Romans 5:3, "we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope." Or, perhaps Hebrews 12:10-11, "God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it."

These are unavoidable things. God is at work.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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