Trusting against the odds

Horse-and-pony

Having all the information in itself is not a bad thing, we all want to be informed. However, when we limit the outcome to be based just on the known, we eliminate faith

1 Chronicles 21:1-8 MSG

1-2 Now Satan entered the scene and seduced David into taking a census of Israel. David gave orders to Joab and the army officers under him, “Canvass all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and get a count of the population. I want to know the number.”

3 Joab resisted: “May God multiply his people by hundreds! Don’t they all belong to my master the king? But why on earth would you do a thing like this—why risk getting Israel into trouble with God?”
4-7 But David wouldn’t take no for an answer, so Joab went off and did it—canvassed the country and then came back to Jerusalem and reported the results of the census: There were 1,100,000 fighting men; of that total, Judah accounted for 470,000. Joab, disgusted by the command—it, in fact, turned his stomach!—protested by leaving Levi and Benjamin out of the census-taking. And God, offended by the whole thing, punished Israel.
8 Then David prayed, “I have sinned badly in what I have just done, substituting statistics for trust; forgive my sin—I’ve been really stupid.”

King David had fallen for the devils trap to go and number the people. Joab knew this was wrong but King David would not listen but insisted on the census. After the fact King David repented to God and asked for forgiveness for substituting statistics for trust. God had always given King David great victory against all odds. When they were just a few in number they defeated vast armies. He himself saw a great victory by defeating Goliath the giant when he was just a young man even though he only had a sling and rock.

God does not need a great number to get the job accomplished here on earth. He just needs one obedient heart. He needs one who will say yes and amen. Jesus was that one when He was on earth, he defeated death itself by going to the cross an innocent man. He died for all of our sins, rose again from the dead and is our Lord as we receive Him in our hearts. He reigns as The King of Kings and The Lord of Lords.

We must remember that just as Jesus was able to be the obedient one so are we one. God only needs one, us, to be obedient to accomplish His will for our lives here on earth. We should never look at our circumstance to determine our outcome. In other words God is able to give us great victory regardless of the circumstance we are in.

No matter how dire the situation, nothing is impossible with God. He only asks us to believe and trust in Him. So the next time we are tempted to try to calculate ourselves out of a situation, let’s stop, place our faith in God and trust in His ability to deliver!