1 Chronicles 21 -- The Steps Of A Penitent Man

David let his pride get the better of him, desiring to see just how many people he ruled despite the fact that God’s word forbade taking a census without each person paying a ransom (which wasn’t being demanded here).  His army commander, Joab, even risked his life trying to dissuade David, to no avail.  He was given the task of performing the census, but knowing he shouldn’t be doing it, he skipped the tribes of Levi and Benjamin.

In my commentary, Matthew Henry writes:  “Justly is that taken from us, weakened, or embittered to us, which we are proud of.”  In David’s case, he was proud of the number of people he ruled, and as Matthew Henry noted, 70,000 of them were taken from him.

Henry also wrote about how David bore his correction:

1)  He made a very penitent confession of his sin, and prayed earnestly for the pardon of it….He owned that he had sinned.

2)  He accepted the punishment of his iniquity.

3)  He cast himself upon the mercy of God (though he knew He was against him) and did not entertain any hard thoughts of Him.

4)  He expressed a very tender concern for the people, and it went to his heart to see them plagued for his unrighteousness.

That pride, if not released, can cause us to not exhibit penitence, and where we don’t, there can be no forgiveness.

The sidebar in my Bible talked about this as well:

“We must be repentant.  All sin must be dealt with.  When we talk about worship we must talk about cleansing, purging, purifying, confessing, repenting – because the only person who can enter into communion with an utterly holy God is one whose sin is dealt with.”

Without this occurring, we’ll be unable to worship.

Father, I pray that You will keep me humble, and that when I do sin, You will reach out to me in love, as You did to David through Gad, and cause me to see how I’ve separated myself from You because of my sin.  Bring penitence into my heart and help me to admit my sins and to quit them.  I don’t want anything I do to get in the way of my worship of You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford