Links for today’s readings:
Nov 25 Read: 1 Chronicles 21 Listen: (5:03) Read: Psalms 95-96 Listen: (2:37)
Scripture Focus: 1 Chronicles 21.1-3
1 Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. 2 So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan. Then report back to me so that I may know how many there are.”
3 But Joab replied, “May the Lord multiply his troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all my lord’s subjects? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”
Reflection: Wilderness Versus Garden Tempations
By John Tillman
Chronicles’ account of David’s reign focuses tightly on events related to building the temple, which omits most of David’s failures and mistakes, except one. The military census caused great suffering and death and led directly to David’s purchase of the temple site.
Chronicles emphasizes that Satan tempted David. Samuel’s account emphasizes that God allowed it. Just as the Holy Spirit “drove” Jesus into the wilderness and Satan tempted him, God tested David.
This temptation happened late in David’s reign. By this time, David had suffered political and familial losses. He had been betrayed and had betrayed others. He had been exposed in scandals. He had fled into wilderness exile after a coup. He survived the resulting civil war that left the country scarred and divided. He buried many friends, family members, and his own children.
Through much of this long, hard reign, David’s goal was pacifying enemies and acquiring wealth to provide Solomon peace, stability, and resources to build the temple. (1 Chronicles 22.14) From this perspective, numbering Israel’s fighting force made sense. We can imagine David thinking, “Have I done enough? Have I left behind enough treasure, enough security?”
Israel rebelled against Moses in the wilderness when they lacked food and water. Yet Moses warned that when they were at peace in the garden land, tempation would still come. (Deuteronomy 8.10-18) Twice, in the wilderness, David resisted the temptation to kill Saul, take the throne, and end his wilderness exile on his terms. David often resisted temptations in the wilderness but he frequently fell to temptations in the garden. In a garden grove of wives to pick from, he plucked Uriah’s. (2 Samuel 12.7-10) Surrounded by thirty legendarily mighty warriors, he demanded a military census. (1 Chronicles 11.10)
The wilderness and the garden have temptations. The wilderness tests us with want. The garden tests us with plenty. The wilderness tempts us to curse God in suffering. The garden tempts us to forget God in comfort. The wilderness threatens us with danger. The garden suffocates us with security.
The “garden” temptations of wealth and security are at least equal to and perhaps more dangerous than the “wilderness” temptations of want and suffering. Are you in the wilderness or the garden? Do you recognize and resist both wilderness and garden temptations?
Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, in the wilderness (Matthew 4.3; Luke 4.3) and the garden (Mark 14.34-38; Matthew 26.38-42). He triumphed where we fail. (Hebrews 2.18; 4.15) Victory over temptation rests in submission, obedience, and trust in Jesus.
Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; let those who love your salvation say forever, “Great is the Lord!” — Psalm 70.4
– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.
Read more: Is The Lord Among Us?
“Is the Lord among us or not?” It’s not a bad question. Each of us has probably wondered something similar from time to time.
Read more: Seduced by Corn Kings
Corn kings promise growth, profit, protection, security if only we will do homage, shift our identity, and conform to a few minor moral sacrifices.