Numbers

David was a great leader.  He had all the attributes we seek in the most worthy commanders.  He came up through the ranks, not from nobility.  He knew the heart of the people because he was one of them.  He showed courage from an early age.  He was not afraid to state his mind or hold to his convictions.  He confronted the enemy with complete confidence.  And, of course, he was victorious.

David’s personal character demonstrated humility, forgiveness and the recognition of authority long before he took his place as king.  He had opportunity to rid himself of Saul but he did not overstep his duty.  He practiced patience, even with those who wished to harm him.  He was loyal in the face of adversity.  But David also knew when to strike, when to move quickly to defeat his foes.  He was a man whose mission was tempered by compassion.

Of course, just like every human leader, David was flawed.  There was a point in his life when his power overtook his moral faithfulness.  He used that power to take advantage of a beautiful woman, the wife of Uriah.  And then he used that power to try to conceal his sexual sin by committing more heinous sins.  David, Israel’s greatest king, will be known as much for his great leadership as for his great fall.  His adultery marred the king and the kingdom.  In fact, David’s family and David’s empire never recovered.

America knows something about the legacy of leadership that takes advantage.  What America may not yet have learned is the continuing consequences of such sins.  Turning points are not obvious until a good deal more road has been traveled.  David had to be confronted by Nathan before he could admit his failure and even though he sought private and public repentance, God did not spare him the consequences of his betrayal.  Leadership in high places carries high responsibility and terrible consequences.  The consequences reach well beyond the bedroom of the king.

Before Bathsheba, David got another lesson in corrupting power.  It is not such a familiar story.  It doesn’t have the allure of a sex scandal so we tend to overlook it.  But its lack of titillation is more an indictment of our moral insensitiveness than it is a statement about the depth of its teaching.  This story is not about bedding a beautiful woman, murdering her husband and attempting to conceal the crime.  It is about counting.  It is just about numbers.  That’s all.  But it is a story that is not only for a king.  It is a story about every one of us.  We are all “numbers” people.

2 Samuel 24 tells the tale of God’s anger over a census.  When you read the story and see what happens, your immediate reaction is probably something like, “Why is this such a big deal?  Why are the consequences so severe?”  Those questions betray our deep misunderstanding of God’s sovereignty.  The “numbers” story is a story of the temptation of human sufficiency.

David is king.  He is the commander-in-chief.  And he does something any ordinary commander-in-chief would do.  He asks his generals for an assessment of the strength of his army.  He requires a census of the troops.  “Just how many men do we have ready to go to battle?” David queries.  His chief-of-staff, Joab, replies, “My king, you are making a terrible mistake here.  May God increase the numbers right before your eyes if He wishes.  But why are you intending to count them to determine your strength?  That is not where Israel’s strength is found, and you should certainly know this.”

David pays no attention.  He orders the numbering.  It is a tragic mistake.

Our world is obsessed with numbering.  The first numbers are in the same classification as David’s census.   We count military might in terms of threat deterrents, nuclear arsenals, missile silos and Stealth fighters.  We order up billion upon billions of dollars in defense.  And what are we defending ourselves from?  More numbers.

Now we live in the terrorist world where the number 1 can strike fear in our hearts.  1 man, 1 bomb.  How many hundreds of thousands of defense weapons are needed to secure ourselves from 1?  Every sane leader knows the answer.  An impossibly large number.  In the terrorist world, no number is sufficient simply because there is no defense against 1.  You cannot defeat an enemy that does not believe in the sanctity of life and is completely willing to die for a cause.

But these aren’t the only numbers.  We count our banking totals.  We count the number of cars, jobs, houses, televisions, computers, Internet connections, businesses.  The list goes on and on.  Why do we count so many things?  Because “in numbers we trust”, that’s why?  It is an oxymoron that the words “in God we trust” are printed on the worldwide symbol of a system based on counting money.  We don’t trust in God.  We trust in hard currency.  We do a census of our lives based entirely on the numbering of money, the exact opposite of godly trust.  We serve mammon, and co-opt God’s endorsement.

“Just wait a minute!” you complain.  “I don’t worship money.  I give to the Lord.  I support the church.  I uphold the law.  I don’t spend money on arms and drugs and prostitution and crimes.”

Of course you don’t.  But you get a mortgage from a bank that deals with a dictator who does.  You buy products in a store that imports goods from a third world that exploits its citizens so that its leaders can buy women (and children) and abuse them.  You put money into stocks in companies that run legalized brothels in Nevada, promote the destruction of lives with gambling, advertise a culture of waste and opulence in a world starving to death and destroy God’s earth in pursuit of profit.  You buy toothpaste that trades on the degradation of sex, coffee that comes from farms that poison the land and vacations that support the biggest producers of the most terrible killing machines ever conceived.

Of course you don’t serve mammon.  You just offer your financial support.

When David finished his census, he realized that he substituted the size of his military for his trust in God.  The story of Gideon probably echoed in his mind.  No army is large enough to supplant the favor of the Lord and no army is too small for God to refuse them victory.  David is struck with guilt and grief.  He falls on his face in repentance.  Today we consider his reaction spiritually antiquated.

God judged David’s sin.  David’s refusal to place his trust in the Lord cost 70,000 people their lives.  Leadership does indeed have grave responsibilities.  Imagine the scope of God’s verdict on us as we count military strength in the billions?  Imagine how we would react if God judged our lack of faith in Him on a scale similar to the one He use dwith David.

As I was writing this article, a friend of mine commented, “Yes, it’s true.  But what should I do?  What should I buy?  Where should I shop?  I don’t want to inadvertently serve mammon.  I want to follow the Lord.  But how?”

I don’t have the answer.  I have a mortgage and a car and a grocery bill.  I fly to meetings.  I vote.  But I know there is one thing I cannot ignore, one thing I must do.  I must repent.  I must repent for the deliberate choice to live without confronting the implications of my lifestyle.  I must repent that I have placed my comfort and security ahead of God’s desire for stewardship of His creation.  I must repent when the chains of economics prevent me from acting according to God’s command regardless of consequences.  I must repent of every way that I have conspired, knowingly or unknowingly, to tighten the grip that the powers of this world have over my fellow travelers and me.

And there is probably one more thing I must do.

I must stop numbering.

I must stop thinking that numbers will save me, that numbers represent power, that numbers tell the real story.  I must stop believing that if I can measure it, it’s real.  I must not give my life to the temptation of numbers.  Oh, God wants me to count.  But only to 1.

Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is One God.

___________   WAIT, it’s not done.

My friend, Mark, read this article.  It reached into his soul.  He wrote:

I just finished reading “Numbers.”  All the questions your friend asked I was asking. I was glad that I was not alone. I would like to ask a couple of clarification questions if I may:

Who is your audience that will be recipients of these thoughts?

My generation, which I am not fond of, will take offense to this. We are a very self centered generation and relevance is of the utmost importance. Your thoughts are all true. I agree with what you are saying…but in the end there are no solutions.

We are also a generation that needs solutions to the problem. Am I the solution? Or is it out of my control. If decisions that are made in a free society like ours are out of my control…do I repent of someone else’s sin? Or is it my sin when I pick up a cup of coffee or eat a peace of fruit that I bought in Albertsons, Publix, or Winn-Dixie? Are you suggesting boycotting some of these items? I don’t mind doing that if there is an alternative. Is voting the only means of having a voice against the injustice of this world and its leaders?

What more can one do? If there are solutions I will act on my God given conscience. Or is it more than that?

“I must repent” from a lot of things personally. But do I repent for the leaders of our country.  I believe God has a lot to do with men and women voted into office. Some evil…some Godly…all human. Leadership is God appointed. With it comes responsibility…and for some leaders…they will have to answer to God for pushing the “numbers” issue.

Dependant,

Mark

_____________  Now it’s your turn.  There are a lot of questions.  There are a lot of very disturbing implications.  What is God saying to you?  Are you listening?