Is God Your Source?
I really needed to know this today! Maybe it will bless you, too? God is so amazing – I have been disciplining my mind and heart in this area since my “tithe of the year” and even wrote a note to someone including this idea yesterday! This just felt like a little hug from God!
Today’s Prayer
Dear Father in Heaven, I know that You have given me special gifts, talents, and abilities to use in Your service. Please stir up those gifts, talents, and abilities within me. Help me to see how and what I am to do for You. Work through me, through the power of Your Holy Spirit, to accomplish Your purpose and to draw people to Yourself. I know that all that is done through me is not of my own power, but of Your power, God. May You be glorified. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Confidence in Numbers
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1, by Os Hillman
03-09-2012
“David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, ‘I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O Lord, I beg You, take away the guilt of Your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.'” – 2 Samuel 24:10
It just seems to be human nature. As we grow in wealth and ability, our confidence moves from complete trust in the Lord to trust in our resources. King David decided one day that he needed to know how many fighting men he had in his army. This was a grievous sin in the nation of Israel. God always made it clear to the nation that He, not their army, was their source. It was against the law of God to number the troops. David’s general, Joab, knew the serious nature of such an action.
But Joab replied to the king, “May the Lord your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?” (2 Samuel 24:3)
Joab knew that David was treading in dangerous waters when he brought up the idea to him. But David had it in his mind that this is what he was going to do. And he did. The result: God judged David for this sin by smiting the nation with a plague that resulted in the loss of 70,000 lives.
