Tag: Sin

Chariots, Censuses, and Sins

I love this triumphant line from David:

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
Psalm 20:7, NIV

Israel fought many foes under David and won because the Lord was with them, which was the point of what Moses recorded:

The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”
Deuteronomy 17:16

Like I said before, the idea here was to trust in God for provision, not in oneself. This is what led to what many term “The Sin of David” (as if there was only one, lol) which we see in 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 22, where David takes a census of his fighting men. Why, if not to prepare for some war against an adversary? This demonstrated an apparent lack of trust in God.

When we come up against foe to big to bear, we shouldn’t take stock of our assets, we should take it to our God. There’s nothing wrong with taking action and trying to do what you are able to, but not until you take it to God and ask Him to lead the way. Doing it our own way without involving God is — at best — benign, but at worst is a road that leads to sin.

What’s Your Vector of Attack?

While David is separated from Michal (who helped saved his life in his flight from Saul) he married two other women. And here again we are told that he gathered “more” wives and concubines. Most of David’s life and actions… 99% (probably MORE than that if we’re going by word count) is upright, virtuous, and worthy of emulation. The way he desires unity, honours the Lord, and seeks His counsel in every leadership decision is commendable. But here we have him amassing wives, in fairly straightforward contravention of Deuteronomy 17:17’s command for kings not to take many wives.

If you know the story of David, you know that this chink in his armour — this Achilles’ heel — will lead to the biggest and most egregious series of sins and terrible decisions that will leave an indelible scar on his story for the rest of time.

I remember years ago hearing famous evangelist Greg Laurie talk about the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16) and cleverly referring to them as Gold, Glory, and Girls/Guys. Every sin boils down to one of these three. And one of them is your weakness. One of them is your vector of attack. And when Satan comes for you, he isn’t going to go after your strong side. He’s going after your weak side! Shore up the area where you are most vulnerable. Take every thought captive (1 Corinthians 10:5) and force it into submission to Christ. Like anything else, you need to train the part of you that is weak to become strong. Find an accountability partner, talk openly about those things which represent your vector of attack. Allow the sunlight to prevent the mold of sin from forming in your life.

I guess what I’m saying is: don’t struggle alone and hope it goes away. Take practical steps to defend the weakest part of you against attacks and temptations from Satan.

2 Samuel 5:1-6:11; 1 Chronicles 3:4, 11:1-9, 12:23-40, 13:1-14, 14:1-2, 8-17 | 112/365

Necessary But Not Sufficient

Numbers 5:6 says “… if and of the people — men or women — betray the Lord by doing wrong to another person, they are guilty.”

Oftentimes we separate sin out into sin against God and sin against people. But we forget that people are image-bearers of God. He made them. And so when we sin against other people, we betray God. And by betraying God we are guilty of sin. Sin against God AND people! In a way sinning against a fellow image-bearer is actually worse, since it is offending TWO parties.

And unlike sins against God alone which require a sacrifice to cover the iniquity, sins against another person required more. The people had to give back what had been taken/cheated/etc (or its equivalent value) and add 20% on top. PLUS they had to get right with God.

What I’m saying is this: we’re going to mess up and hurt each other. But we need to go above-and-beyond to make it right. “I’m sorry” is necessary but not sufficient. We need to repair, replace, or recover. And then, once we have made it right with our brother or sister, then we can come before God to ask for forgiveness. It’s hard to grant forgiveness to someone who has not made a serious attempt to rectify the wrong.

You’ve gotta make it right before you can make it right.

Feb 28 | Num 4-5 | 059/365

Making It Right

There is much todo about sin throughout the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy). And much of it is sin against God. The things we do that are an affront to Him and His law. But God isn’t simply worried about how we treat Him, but also how we treat each other.

In Leviticus 6 God gives Moses specific instruction regarding the mistreatment of each other. The Lord specifically cites cheating, security deposits, stealing, fraud, lost property, and lying under oath. Then He hits Moses with that catchall of “or any other such sin”. God was deeply concerned that we deal fairly with each other.

But what’s interesting is not that God says these things are sins, but rather what He says we are expected to do about it. The pattern so far has been sin:offering, sin:offering, sin:offering. So naturally that’s what we expect to see here, but it is not. Because there is a crucial difference. We are not committing a sin against God that ONLY requires an offering, we are committing a sin against a fellow image-bearer of God, a member of our community of faith. We cannot simply give an offering to God and dust our hands of the situation.

God says explicitly that we have to make it right first. Give back what you stole, took, found, or obtained. AND THEN add 20% on top. It is not enough that we seek to get right with God while there is still a matter outstanding with our sisters and brothers. We are called to go over and above to make it right, and only THEN do we go to God for the final forgiveness.

This is an act of contrition, repentance, and reconciliation. How can we stand before God and claim to be sorry while the person we wronged is left hurting? It isn’t possible. We need to make it right before we can make it right.

Leviticus 4-6 | 048/365

Who’s Leading Who?

We are all the hero of our own stories. But sin is eager to counsel us — and we are eager to listen, because the counsel of sin so often aligns with our existing desires. But God knew how hard-headed our free will would make us and so he made a way out; a way not obvious to everyone; a way that strikes most — nearly all in the case of Noah — as foolishness. Let me encourage you today in the strongest possible terms to listen to (in every sense of the word) the Lord’s leading.

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