No man rises to such places of power that he is beyond the reach of God, and we see in two Scriptures that King David was made keenly aware of this.
There is no doubt David was favored by the Lord who said, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill all my will” (Acts 13:22). Still, David’s reign had its ups and downs because of his desires and decisions.
In the first Scripture we find David enjoying his house of cedar when the though occurred to him that he lived in a fine house while the ark of the covenant was housed in a tent. David could have desired many things for himself, but above everything else he truly wanted a permanent house for the ark.
When David told Nathan the prophet he wanted to build a house for the ark, the prophet agreed, saying, “Do all that is in thine heart.” God spoke to Nathan, telling him to say to David, “Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in.” God said He had never asked for a house made of cedars.
It was God who found the shepherd boy and made him ruler over the people of Israel. God made it possible that David would triumph over his enemies, and gave him a “name like the name of the great men that are in the earth.”
The time was not right for a temple to be built, but when David’s days had “expired,” God said He would raise up one of David’s sons to build a house for God.
In the second Scripture we find that “Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.” God is infinitely wise in His purposes, and He allowed David to be filled with pride, leading him to “number Israel.” David ordered Joab, commander of David’s armies, to take the census. Joab advised against numbering the people, but obeyed David’s order.
In His displeasure God sent a plague on Israel, and David confessed his sin, saying he had been foolish. God told Gad, a prophet, to say to David he should choose one of three options for punishment. The options were: three years’ famine, three months to be destroyed by enemies, or three days of perstilence throughout all the land.
David said he would rather fall into the hand of the Lord than the hand of man, so the Lord “sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.” God also sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but He stopped the angel from doing further damage to the city.
David saw the angel standing at the threshing floor of Oman the Jebusite. The angel was seen as being between earth and heaven, and held a sword stretched out over Jerusalem. The angel told Gad to tell David that he must build an altar at Oman’s threshing floor.
David offered up burnt and peace offerings on the altar he built, and God responded from heaven “by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.” God commanded the angel to put away his sword, showing His acceptance of David’s offerings.
There are so many ways in which we stray from God. We deserve the sword of destruction, but thankfully we have a merciful Father who accepted the death of the Lord Jesus Christ as payment in full for our sin debt.
The Sunday School Lesson is written by Ed Wilcox, pastor of Centerville Baptist Church. He can be reached at edwilcox@nc.rr.com.