Between a Rock and a Hard Place

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Monday, March 11, 2019

Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census of the people of Israel.  So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Take a census of all the people of Israel—from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north—and bring me a report so I may know how many there are.”  But Joab replied, “May the Lord increase the number of his people a hundred times over!  But why, my lord the king, do you want to do this?  Are they not all your servants? Why must you cause Israel to sin?”  But the king insisted that they take the census, so Joab traveled throughout all Israel to count the people.  Then he returned to Jerusalem and reported the number of people to David.  There were 1,100,000 warriors in all Israel who could handle a sword, and 470,000 in Judah.  But Joab did not include the tribes of Levi and Benjamin in the census because he was so distressed at what the king had made him do.  God was very displeased with the census, and he punished Israel for it.  Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly by taking this census.  Please forgive my guilt for doing this foolish thing.”  Then the Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer.  This was the message:  “Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will give you three choices.  Choose one of these punishments, and I will inflict it on you.’”  So Gad came to David and said, “These are the choices the Lord has given you. You may choose three years of famine, three months of destruction by the sword of your enemies, or three days of severe plague as the angel of the Lord brings devastation throughout the land of Israel.  Decide what answer I should give the Lord who sent me.”  “I’m in a desperate situation!”  David replied to Gad.  “But let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is very great.  Do not let me fall into human hands.”  So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and 70,000 people died as a result.  And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But just as the angel was preparing to destroy it, the Lord relented and said to the death angel, “Stop! That is enough!”  At that moment the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.  David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth with his sword drawn, reaching out over Jerusalem.  So David and the leaders of Israel put on burlap to show their deep distress and fell face down on the ground.  And David said to God, “I am the one who called for the census!  I am the one who has sinned and done wrong!  But these people are as innocent as sheep—what have they done?  O Lord my God, let your anger fall against me and my family, but do not destroy your people.”  1 Chronicles 21:1-17(NLT)

One would ask:  What is so bad about a census?  We take one in America every 10 years.  A census is necessary for many reasons in a democratic republic, where you must know how many citizens live in an area, so you can have appropriate representation in government.  Shifts in government services are made according to aging, agriculture, education, and military capability.

In the case of King David’s desire for a census it was pride.  David wanted to know just how many men he could figure would make up an army for another conquest.  The number was also helpful for determining his tax base! 

David’s general (and friend) Joab, tried to dissuade the king from provoking the people and God as well, but David was hard-headed at this point in his life, and pushed to have his way.  This attitude angered God and put David between the rock and a hard place. 

God sent the prophet Gad to David with choices that David must make.  When David finally realized it was a mistake to push God this way it was too late for just changing his mind and ways; there was the judgment of God to be reckoned, and punishment options were on the table.

As the hammer was about to fall David cried out a confession to God, that it was he who had been arrogant and prideful; the nation was innocent.  David asked God to bring the punishment on him, not Israel.  God stopped short of destroying the Holy City of Jerusalem, but 70,000 funerals would be a reminder for all time that God’s place between the rock and hard place is not a place for trifling.

For You Today

David had messed-up, but he chose to stand-up; this should be what Lent brings to us.  May we all have someone like Gad to keep our eyes open!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:   via Pixabay.com

Squirrel Theology

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Monday, June 25, 2018

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers.  Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.  This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.  Then we will no longer be immature like children.  We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching.  We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.  Ephesians 4:11-14^(NLT)

There was a pastor who had earned his doctorate in seminary, and was well-known for his doctrinal sermons, taking the exposition of Scripture through the great life-giving themes of salvation, baptism, the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ incarnation, and so-on.  He had just been extended the invitation to serve as pastor by the elders of a very evangelistic congregation. 

Not everyone on the elder board was in total agreement, however.  One cantankerous old-timer was overheard in the parking lot expressing his dismay over the decision to call this seminary-trained preacher:  I just ain’t sure this-un’s the preacher fer us; I don’t want none o’ that doctor-in-all preachin’.  Jus’ gimmie some Bible is all!  If’n I get sick I’ll a-go see me a doctor. 

It’s not easy to get past hard-headedness.  Perhaps the seminary word would be obtuse! 

Another stumbling block to understanding and communication is squirrel-headedness.  A few weeks ago, I was travelling to church on a Sunday morning and, in the space of a mile or so, I had to swerve twice to miss squirrels. 

One thing is certain – you can never be certain about which way a squirrel will turn…left, right, forward, back, or zig-zag like a gnat in a fire storm; the only thing you can count on is that it won’t be boring!

I once counselled someone who had the squirrel thing down pat.  She would ask me a question; I would answer with a suggestion as to how the Scriptural approach would take some time, but be better in the long run, and she would leave all smiles, determined that her life was going to change.  The next week she would be in shambles because she had tried to do the Biblical thing (for six minutes) and become disillusioned at how it didn’t work.  Zig, zag, left, right, forward one step, backwards two!

Grrrr.

Pastors do not know everything, whether they’ve been to seminary, or if they fell off the turnip truck one morning, bumped their head, and took it as a sign to go into the ministry that day. 

But one thing is true – when God gives a gift is isn’t lacking; pastors, may I say, are no exception.  And when it comes to the Scriptural principles we find in the church’s doctrines, a pastor worth any Biblical salt at all will show you the parallel between what Scripture says, and what’s going on in your life.  And it would pay to give it more than six minutes of try-out time.  Barring that, you could be in danger of squirrel theology, bouncing in the wind from this acorn of teaching to that twig of promise, without a shred of doctrinal reality.

For You Today

If God gave you a pastor who teaches sound doctrine, thank God, and keep measuring his or her teaching by Scripture. 

If you have a pastor that makes you wonder if the Bible has anything certain, true, and life-building to say about the way to live your life, maybe the nut has fallen a little too far from the tree!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com