Maybe Your “Little” Things DO Affect You, AND the World
9/21/2022
David, the census and the choice of three punishments. Bottom line, David was an idiot and his pride killed 70,000 men. But he LOVED, and therefore God could motivate him to change.
God really only has idiots to work with apparently. Perfect execution isn’t likely in this lifetime, even if we are desperate to live so for Him. But regardless of how badly we’ve blown it, He can correct our course — if we are “conscious of God” and if we love. This is the dynamic of how God can watch David do unspeakably poorly at times and still consider David a man after His own heart. If we will focus to be “conscious of God” and if we will love, He can find a way to motivate and change us, even if with a threat.
1Chron21, 2Sam24
From Our Faith Rests in Him “My faith isn’t in how I feel about Him. My faith isn’t how I feel He feels about me. My faith is in Who He is, and therefore I come boldly before the throne of grace by the blood of the eternal covenant. By the blood of the lamb—the blood is over the doorposts, and that’s where my plea is. It never was based on my own righteousness in the first place. David would have had no hope. Moses, a murderer, would have had no hope, Abraham—you name it—these guys were pretty foolish in some respects—no more so, no less so than we are. But the nature of who God is says we go by the blood of the lamb which was our only hope in the first place, and so our confidence comes from the covenant that the Father and the Son had with one another.”
And this raises the question, does God still influence outcomes, like the killing of 70,000 people because of David, based on our obedience, even though He loves us with the love of the son of God? He always has, and he always will, though we may not see the direct cause and effect. He looks at outcomes years or generations forward, not just our convenience or pleasure in the moment.
Still, the point is this: if we knew we could save the lives of those around us, our children or 70,000, or win the souls of those around us, or other things that are positive kingdom benefits, would we stop sinning before the 70,000 die? Could David have stopped that from happening by obeying sooner? Absolutely. If we love, and if we are conscious of God, we can essentially perform miracles or stop catastrophes by our obedience. It won’t always meet our timetable or be easily explained in our experience, but make no mistake: God does influence events based on our obedience, and our love.
For our part, will we love him and love others enough to obey and stop foolish habits, or disobediences to save or win and thereby perform Miracles by this Faith and obedience of the faith?
I know this above is a little technical, but if you could take the time to read it again, I think it has important implications for our ability and those we love, and their ability to put away sin and addictions and compromise.
Also, here is an excerpt from a smaller discussion about how if you are washed in the blood of the lamb, your sin is erased and your salvation secure. But that doesn't mean that your "little" sin does not affect your Destiny and the Destiny of 350,000 others. Obedience equals Destiny
Also, think this through...
When God lowered the hedges against Job, who tempted Job? But who was responsible for lowering the hedges? If you looked up the two different passages, one says Satan tempted David, and the other says God did. God lowered the hedges, and Satan did the tempting.