The Gift of a Conscience

2 Samuel 24:10-17   (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Samuel 24:10-17.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

2 Samuel 24:10 (NIV) 
¹⁰ 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.” 

On verse 10:  In the previous verses we looked at why David calling a census was a foolish thing to do.  Now, after the census is over, David is conscience-stricken and confesses his sin to God.  Your conscience is a great gift from God.  Without a conscience, we would persist hardheartedly in our sin and never turn back.  But when the Holy Spirit touches our conscience, as He did here with David, we can quickly confess our sin and get back on the right track.  It’s no wonder Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:19 to hold on to a good conscience.

2 Samuel 24:11-13 (NIV) 
¹¹ Before David got up the next morning, the word of the LORD had come to Gad the prophet, David’s seer: 
¹² “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.'” 
¹³ So Gad went to David and said to him, “Shall there come upon you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.” 

On verses 11-13:   God sends the prophet Gad, David’s long-time friend and advisor, to bring him the message that God is letting David choose among 3 options the punishment for his sin.  What can we learn from this?  God is holy, righteous and just, such that God cannot turn a blind eye to sin.  God’s justice is so thorough and comprehensive that He demands that every sin be punished. 

Does God still send plagues, famine and other disasters today as punishment for people’s sins?  I don’t believe so.  That’s because Jesus took on all of God’s wrath against our sins at the cross.  As Romans 3:25 (TLB) says:
²⁵  For God sent Christ Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to end all God’s anger against us. He used Christ’s blood and our faith as the means of saving us from his wrath…

For this reason Jesus could hang on the cross and declare “It is finished”.  Because all of God’s wrath against our sin was placed on Jesus at the cross, God doesn’t send natural disasters today to punish people for their sins.

2 Samuel 24:14 (NIV)
¹⁴  David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.”

On verse 14:  When David is asked to choose the punishment for his sin (whether three years of famine, three months of fleeing from his enemies, or three days of plague), David is deeply distressed.  When considering his options, it must have crossed David’s mind that he had already experienced three years of famine (2 Samuel 21:1) and had spent much longer than three months fleeing from enemies.

What was David’s guiding principle when choosing?  It was this:  God is a lot more merciful than people.  David had learned from personal experience that it is better to be wounded by God who loved him and knew him better than anyone, and who was wise and self-controlled, than to be attacked by his enemies who didn’t know when to quit. So David responds by saying, “Let us fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.”   God is far more merciful than people are.  It is always better to fall into the hands of God than the hands of people.  It is better to put your hope in God than to put your hope in people. 

2 Samuel 24:15-16 (NIV)
¹⁵  So the LORD sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.
¹⁶  When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the LORD was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

On verses 15-16:   Consistent with Exodus 30:12, God chooses to allow a plague. After three days, 70,000 people are killed.  Just before the plague is about to reach the family of Araunah the Jebusite, God in His mercy says, “Enough!”, suggesting that many more people could have died in the plague had God not brought it to an earlier end.  If David’s mistake was that he put his hope in numbers and statistics, what a way for God to show how fragile and foolish David’s hope in numbers was.

What can we learn from this?  When we put our hope in something other than God, one day we’ll eventually see how fragile and foolish that hope was.

2 Samuel 24:17 (NIV) 
¹⁷ When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the LORD, “I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall upon me and my family.” 

On verse 17:  David is grieved and distressed because his sheep, the people of Israel, are suffering because of his sin as a shepherd.  By the way, if David was the one who sinned, why is it that God would allow many others in Israel to suffer because of David’s sin?  What can we learn from this?  When a leader sins, it does not affect him or her alone, but it affects everyone in that leader’s care, either directly or indirectly.  Don’t ever think that your sin affects only you.  Directly or indirectly it will affect all those whom God made you to influence as well.  We must use the power and influence God has given us wisely and with care; otherwise, our mistakes can cause the people God has entrusted to us to suffer too.

Here in 2 Samuel 24 the sheep would suffer for the shepherd’s sin.  Centuries later, the opposite would happen:  a good shepherd would voluntarily suffer for the sins of the sheep.  That’s what happened when Jesus died on the cross.  Jesus took responsibility for our failures.  In effect Jesus was saying the same thing David said in verse 17, “I have sinned; I, the shepherd, have done wrong.  These are but sheep.  What have they done?  Let your hand fall on me” (v17).  Truly Jesus is the good shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep (John 10:11).

Father, thank You for the gift of a conscience, which ultimately led me to You.  Thank You also that You are far more merciful than people, so much so You even sent Your Son, the Lord Jesus, to be the shepherd who would lay down his life for his sheep.  Thank You, Lord Jesus, for being willing to take on all the suffering for my sins.  Today and every day may my hope always be in You.  In Jesus’ name, AMEN!