1chronicles 21:1-2

[buildthefarm]

ok check this out.
1 chronicles 21:1-2 Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, "Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan. Then report back to me so that I may know how many there are."

ok this is one of those concepts that has never made a lick of sense to me. i just kind of read it, wonder about it and move on. but today it hit me!!
i used to play poker for a living. only about 4-6 months i wasn't on espn or anything but i enjoyed it and learned a lot about it. God just used that saying you never count your money while your sitting at the table to explain this verse lol.
if you are playing poker the right way your money will rise over the long run, no matter if you tip the dealer, or buy something to eat or whatever.
symilarly if you follow God the right way the things you need will always be in increase, no matter how much you give to charity, help people, or whatever you choose to do. of course this goes for all types of gifts not just money or physical things, when your blessed and doing what is right with God your cup will always be refiilling and cant go empty.
why then do we 'count our money while we are sitting at the table'? 'why do we count our troops'?
Fear or exhaustion perhaps there could be any number of reasons but they all lead to one conclusion. at some point youve decided to play the game differently. instead of playing right or being obedient your ready to get something specific, security. security is a dangerous thing. security means relying on something other then God for your safety. security means im not working anymore cuz ive done enough. the problem of course isnt that youd become secure. the problem is that youd rely on what you have instead of doing what you know to do and letting the chips fall where they may:)

[warrior]

I'd say that is a good outline of a sermon. Yeh I read it the same way. It's that point when we have enjoyed so much bounty with God that we can become complacent and start to think of self reliance over God reliance. Humility is what we need. Scripture is full of God achieving what appears impossible and I'm sure that in the days to come we will need to hang on to that. For those of us whom God pulled out of 'train wrecked' lives we just need to keep reminding ourselves of what a mess we made of things going the self reliant way and recognise how quickly we'd be back there without Him.
This is a seasonal word for you, us? Blessings.

[Eric Latham]

As I was reading this, the first thing that came in my head was 2 Samuel 24:1
"And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah"

A few verses later, David is convicted of sin because of this action. 2 things come to mind as I read this comparison.

1. You know when you feel like God might be telling you to do something but later after you do it, you realize it was just your flesh?

2. God may have told him to do it but through that, he relied on the numbers and not on God. It's like preparing for the coming fall of America. God might tell us to make a garden but if we rely on that garden to provide and drift away from reliance on God, we sin. Even though God may have told us to do it, we heard the voice through our flesh which allows Satan to get all in your head and mess around with what you heard.

Not sure if this has much relevance but I just felt God was leading me to post this.

[warrior]

Satan has no authority but as such he can be given leave by God to do things which are ultimately in God's purpose such as the crucifixion. I guess if David was closer to God he wouldn't need teaching a lesson. I pray that by the grace of God I won't either as I'd end up running back to Him, I'd sooner stay close in humility.