Depending On Your Own Resources

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Scripture:

1Chr. 21:1 ¶ Satan stood up against Israel, and incited David to count the people of Israel.
1Chr. 21:2 So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Go, number Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, and bring me a report, so that I may know their number.”
1Chr. 21:3 But Joab said, “May the LORD increase the number of his people a hundredfold! Are they not, my lord the king, all of them my lord’s servants? Why then should my lord require this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”
1Chr. 21:4 But the king’s word prevailed against Joab. So Joab departed and went throughout all Israel, and came back to Jerusalem.

Observation:

God had given Moses instructions as to how the census of the people of Israel was to be taken.  What David suggested here was not in accordance with God’s command but was, instead, a desire to count his own fighting men.  It came from a sense of pride over his own leadership and abilities.  He wanted to know how powerful he was in his own right without consideration for his dependence upon God.  Therefore he told Joab, his commander of the army, to go and count his soldiers.

This is a surprising act on the part of David.  God had been faithful to David all along and brought him one victory over another.  Why, at this time, did David think that he needed to go out and count his own resources?  Why was it necessary to know the number of his own fighting men?

Application:

God wants to provide for us in life, but in order to do so, he wants us to be dependent upon him.  When we, ourselves, begin to count up our own resources we create problems for ourselves.  The problem is that we see the finite nature of our own resources.  We can become so fixated on the limits of our own resources that we fail to see that God is waiting to provide all that we need.

God had been in the business of providing everything that David needed.  Why would that change?  God had no intention of changing and yet, it is David who changes.  His success, through the power of God, led him to become prideful.  Suddenly he was no longer giving God the credit for what was happening, but was taking all the credit himself.  He had allowed God’s success through him to make him prideful, and this is what can happen to us. 

We must always give God the praise and the glory for what is being accomplished.  We are simply God’s instruments to be used to his glory.  We are nothing without him! 

When we begin to count our human resources we may be excited for a time, but there will be a limit to those resources.  God doesn’t need to provide us with an overabundance of resources, instead, he asked us to pray — give us this day our daily bread.  When we are dependent upon him, we only need what is required for this day.  Tomorrow is another day to be dependent upon him. 

David and the people were punished for counting the fighting men.  We are not to limit God’s actions to the resources that we can see around us, but we are to trust in him each and every single day.  To God be the glory!

Prayer:

Lord, thank you for your provisions of our daily bread.  Amen.




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