Census-taking

Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel. So David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, “Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan, and bring me word that I may know their number.” 1 Chronicles 21:1-2

God was displeased with this thing, so He struck Israel. David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing. But now, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.” 1 Chronicles 21:7

On the surface of things, we of course are prompted to ask the question: ‘how bad is a census really?’ It seems to us an arbitrary reason to incur the Lord’s wrath. What was it about David’s push to number the people of Israel that prompted such a response? We see that it is not only is the Lord displeased by David’s decree but even Joab, who is assigned to carry out the task, tries to push back against it.

First, the Chronicler gives us additional information that the 2^nd Samuel recording of this event does not, namely that Satan prompted David’s actions. Not a good sign for success. The instances of Satan directly referenced in the Bible are so comparatively few that we are bound to notice when he is mentioned.

Secondly, the purpose of a census was to determine (and muster) how many fighting men there were to be found. The strength of the nation of Israel was always to be derived not from its armies or chariots but rather from the Lord. Historically, they had always been the underdog, the oppressed, and underprivileged. That is why the Lord’s assistance is so revealing about His character. He chooses those who are not strong to demonstrate His power. Israel’s victories, and indeed, their very existence came only when they trusted in the Lord for their survival. Think of the moments throughout history when this is demonstrated. Gideon’s army is purposefully reduced to show that the victory came from the Lord. Caleb confidently entrusts himself to the Lord’s will despite the odds stacked against him as he ventured forth to take his portion of the Promised Land. Complete reliance upon the Lord was to be the hallmark of the nation of Israel.

To take a census of the eligible warriors in a nation is to consider the likelihood of victory in war. ‘How do we stack up against our enemies?’ This type of economics makes perfect sense in worldly thinking. It was (and is) the prudent method of weighing the risks and rewards of a military engagement. Israel, however, was not to be a worldly nation and its determining factor in victory or defeat was not numbers or arms but rather the good pleasure of the Lord.

This is why David’s decision smacks of arrogance. It flies in the face of the radical dependence that the Lord required of Israel, His chosen nation and covenantal partner. In evaluating strengths and weaknesses, as other nations did, the census essentially said, ‘we only have ourselves, let’s see if victory is expedient,’ rather than asking whether the Lord would provide the victory in spite of the odds.

Observing and understanding David’s sin must not lead us to a pharisaical self-righteousness though. In fact, it is the very fact that I can empathize with David’s fleshly calculations, which brought this verse to my attention in the first place. I tend to be an over-thinker (that might be an understatement, let me think about it) who often finds himself crippled by the possibilities of success and failure. I think that we all have tendencies toward self-reliance in this regard. We see with our eyes the temporal and earthly facts. It is much harder to focus instead upon the Lord who controls unseen the world. I can think of a half dozen areas in which I try and analyze myself to victory rather than trusting instead the Lord.

-          Money – how often does my prudent approach to money deprive the Lord the chance to provide for me?

-          Conversation – how often does fear and ‘rational’ thinking rob me of situations to tell others of the glory of God?

-          Spontaneity – Oh, how few are the times that I promptly answer the call that the Lord has placed upon me. Instead I analyze and rationalize away that which the Lord desires for me.

-          Prayer – How rarely I pray when I should. Instead I put my requests on a ‘prayer list’ for some future time of concentration that never comes.

How different are we from David really? He wavered and trusted in his own reasoning and in the forces available to him. We seem to trust in anything but the Lord far more often than we would dare to admit. How different are we from Ananias and Sapphira who in their human reasoning saved some of the sale of a house for themselves? May we make choices in a way to be rewarded by the Lord rather than punished as David (and Israel) was or with the finality of that young couple in Acts.

Logic and wisdom in such calculations may be all the world has to depend upon, but we who follow Christ and who abide in His Spirit are not confined by rationality. Our God is bigger. Our God is stronger. Our God is not limited by that which is visible. That is the God that we must embrace.

Our aim is complete surrender; complete and absolute dependence. Our aim is to be so deeply embedded with the Holy Spirit that we see the power and trustworthiness of the Lord rather than the twisted prudence and logic of this world. To be sure, we use the wisdom and intellect He has given us, but never should we let mathematics trump the call of the Lord.

Our aim is simple:

The Lord calls,

We promptly answer.

The Futility of Regret

Darkness has a way of filling the void around us and boxing us in. There is something about the darkness that isolates us in a way that is divorced from reality. In the dark our inner world becomes the only world, or at least that’s the way it feels.  Those of us who have dealt with insomnia or altered sleep schedules know that one of the most frustrating and trying thing is to sit patiently yearning for sleep when sleep will not come. Blaise Pascal once said that “all of humanity’s stem from man’s inability to sit in a quiet room alone.” Those of us who know the debilitating power of darkness know these words to be painfully true in a number of ways. Too often the isolation of darkness releases our assailing demons. Ideas and fears stifled by the daylight often prevail in the sequestration of the night. The lusts of the flesh and doubts long stifled burst suddenly to life in the quiet hours.

Such has been my experience. Working overnight shifts have been difficult on my non-working hours. Often I find myself awake at unusual times battling the losing battle of imposing sleep that will not come. It seems so often that it is in times like these that the doubts and fears of our past take the opportunity of our weakness to show themselves like some shadowy slithering menace. We all have fears and regrets about our lives. Though we may successfully (and rightly) bring them into the light of Truth through Scripture it is in our times of strife that they reemerge, causing us to question our choices, our promise of hope, and indeed our very lives. I found myself battling regret in wee small hours of the morning yesterday. My intent had been to go hiking later in the morning but the darkness lingered on interminably and sleep seemed an insurmountable mountian. Assailed upon by hopelessness and regret, the very choices that I have made over the years became a bitter reminder of my own insufficiencies and failures. Lost in the tedium, of course, like the very light of day, were the blessings which the Lord has shown me; the ways in which He reveals Himself and His will to me in ways small and large. That is the power of darkness: isolation and fear. We all have things in our past that we wish we could have done differently. We all have areas of our pasts that we would prefer be secret even to those closest to us; expanses of our minds that we fight to crucify daily that would shock even those who know us best. Regret, as it so often does, fermented into bitterness and it was in this spirit that I set out to hike a nature area on the west side of Ann Arbor.

The park has an inclusive, almost claustrophobic feel, even in the leafless days of late autumn thanks in part to the numerous hills and ridges that bring the hiker in and out of gullies and small valleys. I traversed in the earliest daylight hours aimlessly only having the vague goal of reaching the farthest extremes of the park; anything to get away from the turmoil of my own thoughts. Hiking so often is just that for me, a chance to escape the troubles of life and the pressures of polite society. Most of the hike was a display of grey and brown as fallen leaves crunched underfoot with a crust of frost and leafless trees filled the horizon, however every once and a while the rising sun peaked over the buffeting hills and cast away the shadows. Hiking east I climbed a rise that was slightly more difficult that I had intended and was greeted with a view of the Huron River Valley, smoky in the morning air and glinting with the rays of the sun. Now I’m not stupid, I knew the geography of the area. I hadn’t misplaced the river but still it came as a contrast to the bland forest and its skeleton trees. There it was: something so beautiful and shimmering amid the brown monotony of the rest of the hike. I had thrown a Bible into my jacket pocket out of habit as I had left and now pulled it out and sat down. I have been (slowly) driving my way through Isaiah and turned to the day’s reading: “And yet, Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We are all formed by your hand.”

It struck me in that moment the futility of regret. A thousand choices and sins might lay behind us like a vast wasteland, but if we know the Lord and set our sights on Him, nothing; not our past; not our doubts, can stop us. The Holy Spirit rescues us from the wreck of our lives. Decisions, good and bad, wise or unwise are meaningless unless done for the Lord. Conversely, even our limited, faltering steps move us closer if we have on our horizon the glory of the Lord. We are limited in our very nature: created things seeking to have the insight of their Creator. Of course we see only dimly the path before us, that is the point: to trust fully the one who draws us along, who leads us on. He has shaped us, molded us, and gifted us for His purposes. Even when those purposes seem elusive and shrouded in mystery our response should not be to lament our foolishly limited perspective but rather to trust in the Hand and Mind guiding us. Without Him, even our shrewdest decisions are nothing but a lesson in futility.

As I sat, the daylight exorcised the shadows from the wood. Unencumbered by the leafy canopy it immersed the forest in blazing light. The world seemed to swell as I viewed it but not in a way that isolated or frustrated. The expanse of blue sky, the shimmer of sunlight upon the river, the boughs of trees stretching out all spoke to me of the Lord’s providential will--- a plan free from shadows, darkness, and doubt. I would have sat there all day but the allure of the trail led me on. The promise of the unknown path before me led my steps. I think there’s a lesson in the walking.

More Like The Farmer

So I haven't written much lately, partly due to my new overnight shift and partly due to my own laziness. This morning's sermon by Pastor Glei reminded me of a poem I once wrote. So I shall share it with you.

Trust not as the hoarder

in cash nor pen

nor in the splendors of mortal men;

more like the farmer

who counts in bushels
the blessings sown
by winds and rains and hands unknown
to meet the needs of flesh and bone
grown by the grace of God alone.

Not by hands that toil or till
though in their place their purpose fill
no; but by the whim of One who sees
the purposes in bitter seeds
and the goodness in the roots of trees.
Of stones and clods that mar the earth
He sees but shadows of the coming mirth.
For all the streams flow from One source
though slow and winding be their course
and those in drought may pine away
for the blessing of some foregone day.
To those who fashion themselves kings:
Know the weight such appointment brings.
For He who raises in His time
will bring about His will through thine.
But to those who watch and pray
who take comfort in the coming day
the waters sweet which ebb and flow
will appear like springs from deep below
and quench the parched and green the land
bringing joy to the righteous man.

For sorrows in their time may yeild
a deeper faith and larders filled
by One whose stength eclipses thine
and knows the winding roads of time.
For luck and chance sculpt not the land
only the greatness of His plan.