2 Samuel 24:14 “Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress; let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.” Today's episode is a great reminder to slow down and remember to turn to the Lord when we are stressed, and also turn to Him even when we feel we don't have time. Also a great reminder that there is nothing we can do that the Lord won't forgive if we repent. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Fall Into The Hand Of The Lord
2 Samuel 24:14 “Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress; let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”
I had a friend that was feeling very stressed out and unsettled yesterday. She put on worship music and was instantly settled. Then the Lord directed her to this passage and where it says, “Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, she saw settle into the hand of the Lord and she remembered that she can always settle into God’s hand and He will be there for her. She realized she was rushing around to get everything done. She had so much to do she didn’t have any time for anything else. She didn’t have time to stop and pray because she needed to get everything done. She said she was not making time for the one things she needed to make time for. Once she stopped and just took a few minutes to listen to a praise and worship song and then let go of the tears and started talking to God, she felt so much better. She had left a voice message about how she was feeling and then after she listened to the praise song and talked to God you could tell in her voice she was doing so much better. Praise God! Why do we all forget to turn to God when we are stressed? Why do we make time for everything else and not for God? Why don’t we realize that He is exactly who we need to spend time with when we feel unsettled? Sometimes it can be as easy as sitting down and listening to one praise song, or opening the Bible and reading one verse. Next time you are unsettled and feeling anxious I pray you remember to “fall into the hand of the Lord."
Let’s take a look at this verse and see what it is saying. David is saying he is in great distress. In order to know why he is in great distress we need to look at the verse around this one. Just before this verse David had taken a census of the people in Israel. This angered God because people only had a right to count the things that belonged to them, but Israel did not belong to David, they belonged to God. It was as if David was taking claim over them. David knew he messed up and so he was in great distressed. It seems like David should be used of this as he messed up a lot. He loved the Lord and yet he often did things that were not good. He spent a lot of time repenting.
Right before the verse above we have 2 Samuel 24:10-13 “But David’s heart smote him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, I pray thee, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.” And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer[f] you; choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’” So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.”
Even though David did mess up a lot he was very good at repenting. He was very close with the Lord and he knew he didn’t want to be apart from Him. He knew no matter what He did God would forgive him if he repented. This is something I wish we all knew. I think so many people who feel helpless and feel like they can’t go on in life need to know that there is nothing they could do that God wouldn’t forgive. There is never a point where they are unredeemable. As long as they are still alive there is never a point where it is too late. They could at any point repent and God is right there waiting to welcome them back in, welcome you back in.
David knew he did something wrong and so he asked the Lord to take away his iniquity. God spoke to Gad, a prophet, and gave him three choices to give to David. If David wanted to atone for his sins, he needed to pick one of the three choices God gave to Gad. Those choices again were, “Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land?” The verse above says, “let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.” In this verse David is talking about how he would rather have the famine come to his land, or the three days of pestilence in his land because God is in control of these. He would be relying on God and His mercy. However, if he chose to flee from his human enemies for three months he would be falling into the hands of men and the are not very merciful.
David knew God, he knew his heart. David spent a lot of time with God and was very close to Him. God loved David very much. He blessed him often. David knew that if he fell into God’s hands God would judge him appropriately. Not too much, but just the right amount. David knew he needed to pay for his sins and he trusted that whatever God did would be just. He knew, even when he had disobeyed and potentially angered God, that He could still turn to him and ask for help, ask for forgiveness. I wonder if we know that? Do we know we can ask God for forgiveness, even for things that seem unforgivable?
I wonder if giving David three choices was a test for him to see if he was going to choose God and his mercy or if he was going to turn to the world again. How many times have we turned to the world instead of God when we feel we have done something wrong, or even just when we have a problem? How many times do we seek guidance from the world instead of from God? How many times do we seek forgiveness from the world when God is the one we need forgiveness from? How many times do we seek solutions from the world instead of from God?
David knew he messed up and needed to repent. We all know when we mess up and need to repent. When we repent God is waiting there with open arms, ready to welcome us back in. I feel God really wants to get that point across to us today. He knows we keep turning away and that is ok as long as we keep turning back to Him. And as we grow closer to the Lord, we will start turning away from Him less and less. God is merciful and He is there for us, He is waiting for us to set things right, just as David did. And when we do He will have mercy on us just as He did with David. God loves you very much too!
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, help us to repent and to trust that you are merciful. Lord help us remember to turn to you when we are rushing around and feel like we don’t have enough time to do all we need to do. Help us to realize if we take the time to pause and connect back to you, everything will run smoother and we will actually get more done. Lord, why do we always forget that you are our source of peace and comfort? Help us to remember this every time we forget. Lord, help us to understand that even though we turn away, when we turn back to you and repent that you are waiting there for us with open arms. Help us to see there is nothing we can do that is too great for you forgive. You are awesome Lord and you are so merciful. We are so grateful for how patient you are with us. We keep turning away and you keep calling up back to you anyway. We love you Lord! We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day!