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There are certain decisions in life that become hinge points on which the entirety of life is turned. You and I can look back on our lives and consider key decisions we made that became key hinge points as well. Your life turned on the decisions you made.

Other decisions are so important that not only are they hinge points for your life, not only do they change the course of your own life, but they impact others as well.

This is what happened to David in 1 Chronicles 21. David made a critical error of judgment. It was a decision that would impact the whole of the nation of Israel. It was a failure of epic proportions. But what followed, how David responded, changed the course of the history of the entire world. In fact, David’s decisions and the course of his life impacts the world today and has everything to do with the prophetic future and the end of the age!

In other words, this is not just about David’s failure, it’s about how he responded to that failure. And it’s a story of how God transforms failure into victory and into faith.

People fail. It’s part of human nature. It’s what you do next that determines the course. But it’s also about what God does next. You must factor in how God responds to failure and how God is able to transform failure into victory.

The back story is this; at some point in David's life, after he had been king of Israel for many years and there was peace all around, he decided he wanted to number the people of Israel. In other words, he wanted a census to be taken. No specific reason was given for David's desire to count the people, but when you study the chapter, the reasons become clear.

Counting the people, taking a census itself was not wrong if it was necessary and needful. For example, in the book of Exodus, God gave instruction for the taking of a census where everyone 20 years old and above was counted for the purpose of supporting the tabernacle, the house of the Lord. Each person would give a half shekel. The rich would not give more, the poor would not give less.

A census could also be taken if the nation was preparing for war. The commander would need to know the strength of his forces, to assess his ability to confront the enemy.

Luke 14:31, “What king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, would not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?”

That was not the case with David. There was peace all around, the nations around them had been subdued. If David’s men set out for the purpose of counting those who could fight, it must mean only one thing – David was preparing for war. The people would’ve been set on edge. War strikes fear in the heart of a nation.

But David wasn’t preparing for war. No foreign armies had been able to defeat Israel with David as their king and commander. He was counting the people for all the wrong reasons. There can be only one conclusion, David wanted to know how great he had become, how great Israel had become with him as king.

Joab, the commander of the army of Israel, tried to persuade David not to take the census, and with very strong words. In other words, Joab, who most assuredly was not a saint, knew that taking this census was wrong. Other commanders of the army also tried to convince David not to do this thing.

But David would not relent. He went against all counsel and persisted. He wanted this census taken and he would not change his mind.

Just how successful had David become? Just how powerful were David's forces? In other words, how powerful is David? There was only one way to know; take a census and number those who drew the sword. This wasn’t about how great God was, this was about how great David was.
This is a failure of epic proportions. But great things come out of this story. Yes, David will come to his senses. There will be one final revival in David’s heart. There are many life lessons that come to us in the story. It’s about how God transforms failure into victory.

Pastor Rich Jones
Pastor Matthew Dodd
Rich Jones Calvary Chapel
Calvary Chapel Worship Center
Calvary Chapel Hillsboro
Calvary Chapel Oregon
Calvary Chapel Beaverton
Calvary Chapel Portland

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