Welcome to this Daily PBJ devotional. Read 2 Samuel 24, Hosea 2, and Proverbs 23, 1-18. This devotional is about 2 Samuel 24. Again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he stirred up David against them, saying, Go, and take a census of Israel and Judah. So the king said to Joab the commander of his army, who was with him, Go now throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba, and register the troops, so that I may know their number. But Joab replied to the king, May the Lord your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing? Nevertheless, the king's word prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army departed from the presence of the king to register the troops of Israel. They crossed the Jordan and camped near Aror, south of the town in the middle of the valley, and proceeded toward Gath and Gazer. Then they went to Gilead, and the land of Tatim-Hadshi, and on to Danjan, and around to Sidon. They went toward the fortress of Tyre, and all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went on to the Negev of Judah to Beersheba. At the end of nine months and twenty days, having gone through the whole land, they returned to Jerusalem. And Joab reported to the king the total number of the troops. In Israel there were 800,000 men of valor, who drew the sword, and in Judah there were 500,000. After David had numbered the troops, his conscience was stricken, and he said to the Lord, I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O Lord, I beg you to take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly. When David got up in the morning, the word of the Lord had come to Gad, the prophet, David's seer. Go and tell David that this is what the Lord says. I am offering you three options. Choose one of them, and I will carry it out against you. So Gad went and said to David, Do you choose to endure three years of famine in your land, three months of fleeing the pursuit of your enemies, or three days of plague upon your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should reply to him who sent me. David answered Gad, I am deeply distressed. Please, let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hands of men. So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel from that morning, until the appointed time, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. But when the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented from the calamity, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, Enough! Withdraw your hand now. At that time the angel of the Lord was by the threshing-floor of Aaronah the Jebusite. When David saw the angel striking down the people, he said to the Lord, Surely I, the shepherd, have sinned, and acted wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please, let your hand fall upon me and my father's house. And that day Gad came to David and said to him, Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Arunah the Jebusite. So David went up at the word of Gad, just as the Lord had commanded. When Arunna looked out and saw the king and his servants coming toward him, he went out and bowed facedown before the king. Why has my lord the king come to his servant? Arunna said. To buy your threshing floor, David replied, that I may build an altar to the lord, so that the plague upon the people may be halted. Arunna said to David, May my lord the king take whatever seems good to him and offer it up. Here are the oxen for a burnt offering, and the threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. O king, Arunna gives all these to the king. He also said to the king, May the lord your God accept you. No, replied the king, I insist on paying a price, for I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver, and there he built an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Then the Lord answered the prayers on behalf of the land, and the plague upon Israel was halted. This is God's Word. Of all the disturbing things recorded about David's life, 2 Samuel 24 is one of the tougher ones. Verse 1 tells us that the anger of the Lord burned against Israel. Now, God is not angry by nature. His anger is a righteous response to sin. The problem is we're not told what sin or sins Israel committed that angered God in this way. And so, since idols were the biggest problem during the era of the judges, that might be the reason, but we just are not told. The fact that God was said to be angry with Israel without a stated reason might make you wonder if he was angry for no reason at all. And that's the first disturbing aspect of this passage. A second issue comes from the phrase, also in verse 1, This phrase sounds like God commanded David to take the census. However, in verse 10, David said, I have sinned greatly in what I have done. So how could God have commanded David to do something that was sinful for David to do? The answer is that God did not directly command David to take the census. Rather, verse 1 says that God incited him. This word means to suggest in the original Hebrew, and it isn't a direct command. Still, would God suggest that anyone do something sinful? Of course not. Yet, sometimes God lets us go our own way in order to accomplish something he has decided to do. And this phrase about inciting David does not mean that God directly tempted David or created evil in David's heart to take this census. Instead, God allowed David to be tempted and to fall into that temptation. The point of the census was to count the number of available fighting men. That was a sin because a large army may become an expression of pride for the king. By knowing exactly how large his army was, David could feel very proud about himself as a leader. And pride is a sin that beats in every human heart. unrestrained by the Holy Spirit, people are highly susceptible to the sin of pride. Instead of putting his confidence in God, David would be tempted to trust his large, highly experienced army instead. Since pride is inherent in the fallen hearts of humanity, God did not have to tempt David directly. All God had to do was remove the restraints on David's life, or in this case, his thought life, and let him think about what he wanted and do what he wanted to do. I believe that is what happened in this passage. David's choice to count the troops was his sin because of the attitude of pride that prompted it. Don't let pride become a tool for Satan in your life. Maintain a humble spirit and cry out to God daily for his blessings as you go about your daily life. If you found this devotional helpful, go to my website, dailypbj.com, slash subscribe, enter your email address there, and you'll be subscribed to receive them every day. That way, you can be in God's Word, and I can help you apply God's Word to your life, and you can build a Bible-reading habit which will help you grow stronger as a Christian. This is completely free, and you can always unsubscribe. So give it a try. Go to dailypbj.com slash subscribe. And if you could join my financial support network, if you have the means and the desire to do so, go to dailypbj.com slash support to find out more. And please share this with someone else. And I'll see you next time. May God bless you. Hope you have a great day today.