Today’s devotion comes from 1 Chronicles 21:1-8.
“Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel. So David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, “Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan, and bring me word that I may know their number.” Joab said, “May the LORD add to His people a hundred times as many as they are! But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why does my lord seek this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt to Israel?” Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore, Joab departed and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem. Joab gave the number of the census of all the people to David. And all Israel were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword; and Judah was 470,000 men who drew the sword. But he did not number Levi and Benjamin among them, for the king’s command was abhorrent to Joab.
God was displeased with this thing, so He struck Israel. David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing. But now, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.” 1 Chronicles 21:1-8.
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Superficially, David’s action of taking a census of all the people may not have violated God’s law. See Numbers 1:2-3. But maybe, David was doing it this time out of pride, because in the prior chapter, David gained all these victories even over giants. In any event, “God was displeased with this thing, so He struck Israel.” We will cover the following points.
First, we need to be aware of the presence and purpose of Satan. “Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel.” Verse 1.
“Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being accomplished by your brethren who are in the world.” 1 Peter 5:8-9.
Second, we need to seek and follow wise counsel a/k/a advice. Joab wisely warned David (see verse 3), but David did not follow it.
“A wise man will hear and increase in learning,
And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,” Proverbs 1:5.
“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes,
But a wise man is he who listens to counsel.” Proverbs 12:15.
“Listen to counsel and accept discipline,
That you may be wise the rest of your days.” Proverbs 19:20.
“8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go;
I will counsel you with My eye upon you.
9 Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding,
Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check,
Otherwise they will not come near to you.
10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
But he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround him.” Psalm 32:8-10.
Third, we need to learn what pleases God and what does not please God. Sometimes, it is not so clear.
“For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light.” Colossians 1:9-12.
Ephesians 5:1-21 contains examples of what pleases God and what does not please God. We are reminded and exhorted: “for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.” Ephesians 5:8-10.
“Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.” 1 Thessalonians 4:1.
“Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” John 6:28.
But, there is hope!
“Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” John 6:29.
“for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13.
“But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption,” 1 Corinthians 1:30.
“For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” Philippians 1:6.
“… “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.” Luke 3:22.
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” John 15:4-8.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. … In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:3-6 and 10-12.
“Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.” 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24.
In summary, God will Himself do what pleases Him. It is His good pleasure that we (the elect) are in Christ in Whom He is well-pleased and through Whom He will provide all that we need to please Him.
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10.
In other words, we do not begin our search for wisdom as to what will please God by examining ourselves and trying to figure out what we should do. Rather, we begin our search for wisdom by seeking to know God and have a proper belief in God.
Consider the following from the Belgic Confession.
Article 1: That there is One Only God.
We all believe with the heart, and confess with the mouth, that there is one only simple and spiritual Being, which we call God; and that he is eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, immutable, infinite, almighty, perfectly wise, just, good, and the overflowing fountain of all good.
Moreover, regarding the above verse, “knowledge of the Holy One” leads us to meditate on what the LORD does for His good pleasure. The LORD will certainly use us, BUT He will give us both the Will to do His good pleasure and He will work within us for His good pleasure. “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13.
Even in the exhortation in 1 Thessalonians 4:1 above (“as to how you ought to walk and please God”), there is the encouragement “(just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.”
In other words, let us never turn our eyes away from faith in the LORD to turn our eyes on ourselves, on our self, our own will, and our own works, thinking the solution is just that we need to try harder in our flesh. “and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:8.
Remember the John 15:6 Scripture above: “Abide in Me, and I in you.”
“9 “Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
11 Calling a bird of prey from the east,
The man of My purpose from a far country.
Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.
I have planned it, surely I will do it.” Isaiah 46:9-11.
“But our God is in the heavens;
He does whatever He pleases.” Psalm 115:3.
Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions 