21:24 But King David replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or sacrifice a burnt offering that costs me nothing.”
Well right after we praise David for being a great leader he goes out and is influenced by Satan and conducts a census against God's desire. I'm not sure a census in and of itself is bad but in this case it clearly didn't make God happy. It seems David is suddenly is falling into the trap of believing his power is of his own not of God--just like you pointed out yesterday. So even a Godly man can fall into this trap.
But David quickly recognizes the error of his way and seeks to repent. His heart appears genuinely remorseful though only God knows for sure. But his actions are consistent with wanting to really sacrifice something from himself not from that of his people. Can you imagine a politician in today's culture admitting he was wrong and dipping into his own reserves to repay for the error of his way.
So it looks like David even in his weak moment demonstrates being a Godly leader by opening living out his faith and confessing his sins not only to God but visible to others. Being transparent and humble makes for a great leader.
knut
David seems to make just as many mistakes and mis-steps as the rest of us...and yet he is proclaimed to be "a man after God's own heart." So, perhaps God is more concerned with the attitude of the heart, and not so much about how many mistakes we make?
ReplyDeleteI also found it interesting that God him the option of the 3 punishments. I don't think we've read anything like that before. The option David chose wound up costing 70,000 of his men their lives. It didn't really cost David, personally. Interesting.
tp