Counting

After reading from 1 Chronicles this morning, I sat blankly staring at my IPad screen. I had just end several chapters of names and divisions given the duty to stand guard. The devotional materials I read left me a but dry as well. Nothing seemed to be rising up about which to write. But God, as always, is faithful - he gave me a word: Counting.

As the divisions were being assigned to stand watch over Israel, "Joab son of Zeruiah began to count the men but did not finish. God’s wrath came on Israel on account of this numbering, and the number was not entered in the book of the annals of King David" (1 Chron 27:24).  It was just one verse out of several chapters, and it seemed to be almost an after thought in the text, but nothing that garners the wrath of God can be called an after thought. Counting, in this case, brought judgment, and therefore, needs to be understood.

It can hardly be the fact of simply counting that incurred this judgment for God himself is responsible for "numbering the very hairs on your head" (Lk 12:7).   But this particular counting was not God approved and instead, God condemned. Why so?

The answer is intimated in the verse just ahead of the one revealing God's wrath: "David did not take the number of the men twenty years old or less, because the Lord had promised to make Israel as numerous as the stars in the sky" (1 Chron 27:23).  By contrast, the Lord reveals David's faithfulness in trusting God's promise of more than enough compared with Joab's desire to ensure God had delivered on that promise.

Joab's desire to count reflected a level of distrust in God's promise and a need to inject himself into God's domain.  Joab wanted to make sure they had enough military resources to meet their defense needs instead of trusting God's promise.  Joab's action decries the godly trust David spoke of in Psalm 20:7, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God."

As in so many things, it was not the act but the motivation and intent behind it that brought them under judgment, for "The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Sam 16:7).

Joab's did not bring judgment for the act of counting itself, the judgment came when he dismissed God's promise and began counting on himself. Sound familiar?  Do you ever find yourself fretting over how you will deal with an overwhelming problem instead of taking it and leaving it in God's hands?  Let me answer for you: "Yes!"  We all do and we all sin when we do.

Don't stop counting. In fact, I believe God wants us to count the blessings and recount the miracles he brings into our lives to strengthen our faith and encourage others in the Faith. Just stop counting on your own strength and resources, and start counting on God's power to protect, provide and prosper you. Jus ' Say'n.