Boasting In God's Blessing

By Jason, M.Ed., M.A.R., Headmaster

David’s Final Sin and Our Self-Centered Hearts

At the end of his reign, David enjoyed great victory over all of his earthly enemies. He has subdued the nations around Israel. He and his mighty men had defeated the giants in the land. The land enjoyed rest from warfare and prosperity under God’s hand. Then, David decided to take a census.

At first glance, this doesn’t seem all that bad. After all, Moses had taken two very similar censuses in the Book of Numbers, a counting of all of the fighting men aged 20 and older in the camp of Israel. Yet Moses’ census-taking was ordered by God for divine purposes. David’s came from his own heart and mind and not from the Lord. But just because God didn’t specifically command the census wouldn’t make it sinful, would it?

Interestingly, God did give a command in Exodus about taking a census. He commanded that a ransom tax of ½ shekel per person must be paid every time a census is taken or else He would send a plague on His people. Well, David took the census and did not collect the ransom tax, and so God sent the plague, just as He said He would. But why would God make such a big deal over a relatively small ransom tax?

The reason God made such a big deal about the ransom tax is directly related to the reason why David’s census was sinful. The ransom tax was to remind the people of Israel that they did not belong to themselves. Whenever they were counted, they were to remember that they belonged to the Lord. David, unlike Moses, was not counting his army as a testimony to God’s faithfulness in preserving His people. No, David had a much more selfish motive. He counted the people so he could know how strong and successful he was.

Last week, we saw that sometimes we grumble at God’s blessings, when they disappoint our expectations. The Israelites grumbled over manna in the wilderness. Like them, we grumble, even when God answers our prayers and meets our needs, because we can be too self-centered to be satisfied with God’s provision. Yet what happens when we are satisfied, when everything is clearly wonderful? So often, we respond not with humble gratitude, but with selfish boasting.

Either way, our self-centered hearts get us into trouble and steal the glory from God. In both cases, God deserves our gratitude and our praise. So often, what He gets instead is either our complaining or no acknowledgement at all as we steal the credit and glory for ourselves.

David was guilty of thinking that the army of Israel was his army. He thought the victories and the peace were his to relish in and calculate.

What are we guilty of thinking belongs to us by right when really it is a gracious blessing from the Lord? Whatever it is will soon become a source of stumbling and an obstacle that keeps us from praising God as we should. Is our song the chattering chorus of the seagulls in Finding Nemo, who never stopped saying, “Mine. Mine. Mine. Mine.”? Or is it the humble refrain of worship, expressed in the chorus of a Steven Curtis Chapman song, “It’s all Yours, God, yours, God. Everything is Yours! You're the Maker and Keeper, Father and Ruler of everything. It's all Yours.”?