Two Things

1 Chronicles 21:16-27

"17 And David said to God, "Was it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? I am the one who has sinned and done evil indeed; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, O Lord my God, be against me and my father's house, but not against Your people that they should be plagued." 

David had previously sinned by numbering Israel. Sometimes we horde and count what we have. Some churches pride themselves in their membership, how much they give to missions and all the programs that they have. God isn't so much interested in numbers as He is about the quality of those numbers. Are all those people really serving God, living a holy and separated life unto Him? It is wrong even today to count all that we have as if we obtained it by ourselves. What we have has come from God.

The first thing I want to point out here is this:  In this text- David realized that God is punishing Israel because of something that he had done-- numbered the men in Israel- thinking that by numbers he was able to be victorious when all along it was God that had given him the victories. But something really interesting takes place here-- David-- the King-- actually took responsibility for his sin. He cried out to the Lord to stop the plague on Israel and took full responsibility. How many times do we see leaders do this? Instead- they play the blame game. And we all get caught up in this blame game from time to time. It is a natural thing to try to place the blame on others for our own actions-- our own sins. We make excuses for not doing the right thing. We all need to accept responsibility for our own lives and not blame others for what has gone wrong.

The second thing I see here is this-- We always something that's FREE.   "24 Then King David said to Ornan, "No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing." David refused to accept Ornan's offering of the threshing floor. David wouldn't accept anything that didn't cost him something. He wanted to use the area to build an altar to the Lord. How many times do we offer up things to the Lord that hasn't cost us something? Or we give to the Lord because we feel that we HAVE to. How many people go to church each week simply because they think it is required of them? They are not doing it because they love the Lord and it is not an offering to the Lord. They do it because they think they have to do it in order to stay in God's good graces. In Genesis 4:2-7 is the account of Cain and Abel's offering. The reason that Cain's offering was rejected by God was because of his attitude- "

 5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.  6 So the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."   How many people does God reject their prayers and offerings because of their attitudes.  Verse 7 is pretty clear: "Sin lies at the door." 

We need to keep our attitudes toward the Lord in check. We need to be accountable for our own lives. Also if we are angry, resentful, bitter- these are hindrances to our prayers and our offerings. God wants those who give and come to Him out of their love for Him- not because they think that are entitled to something.

What is your attitude?

(Taken from Pastor Keith's message, 2/8/2015)