Best to God
2 Samuel 24:18-25
2 Samuel 24:18-25, And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David, according to the word of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. 20 Now Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. So Araunah went out and bowed before the king with his face to the ground. 21 Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant? ”And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people.” 22 Now Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. Look, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing implements and the yokes of the oxen for wood. 23 All these, O king, Araunah has given to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your
God accept you.” 24 Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of
silver. 25 And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel. Background. David took census of Israel.
Joab told him not to do that, but he was overruled. They found out from the census. 800,000 Men from Israel. 500,000 Men from Judah. A mighty army of 1.3 million soldiers. God was displeased.
Leaning on God or self? God gives three options. 1. 7-year famine. 2. 3 months of enemy’s rule. 3. 3 days of plague. David was wise in choosing to fall in the judgement of God. 70,000 men were destroyed in one day.
God looked at the devastation and stopped the plague.
2 Samuel 24:16, And when the angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “It is enough; now restrain your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
It is God who stopped.
Exodus 34:6-7, And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, 7 keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”
Psalms 51:1, Have mercy upon me, O God, According to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, Blot out my transgressions.
God asked David to offer sacrifice to God. David comes to do the sacrifice. V 24, Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to
bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 1. Time. 2. Money. 3. Talents.
1. Time
Mark 1:35, Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.
Matthew 14:23, And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. Now when evening came, He was alone there.
1 Chronicles 16:11, Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face evermore! Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Luke 10:38-42.
Psalm 25:14, “Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence him. With them alone he shares the secrets of his promises” (TLB).
2. Money
Proverbs 3:9, Honour the Lord with your possessions, And with the firstfruits of all your increase;
Matthew 6:21, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
1 Timothy 5:8, But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
1 Timothy 6:9-10, But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
3. Talents
Matthew 25 & Luke 19.
Exodus 35:30-35, And Moses said to the children of Israel, “See, the Lord has called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; 31 and He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and understanding, in knowledge and all manner of workmanship, 32 to design artistic works, to work in gold and silver and bronze, 33 in cutting jewels for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of artistic
workmanship. 34 “And He has put in his heart the ability to teach, in him and Aholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. 35 He has filled them with skill to do all manner of work of the engraver and the designer and the tapestry maker, in blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and fine linen, and of the weaver—those who do every work and those who design artistic works.
Exodus 40:34, Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
1 Peter 4:10-11, As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Romans 12:6, Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith;