Day Six: 1 Chronicles 21

This is a bizarre little chapter. First of all, it starts with King David being led astray by satan. He asks his general to count all of the fighting men in his kingdom. Joab is repulsed. He knows that God is always the deciding factor in a victory, not the number of men. To him it was an obvious and serious sin. Seeking definite knowledge of the exact size of your power, your limits, your worth. Needing a tangible definition of your value. 

Man, we do this every day in all kinds of ways. We seek to know our exact limits: my credit limit, my square footage, my 401K balance, my Facebook friends, my salary, my weight, my reps, my distance, my (insert your number here). 

God's ban on doing a census begs a questions I have to ask of myself. Exactly how much have I insulated myself from simply trusting that I am reliant on an unlimited God? Why do I need to know the numbers? Why do I rate myself with them? If the Creator of the universe knows me by name, would any number of online friends ever eclipse that? If my Daddy owns this planet, would any dollar figure outweigh my inheritance? How can I measure myself outside of Him? Why do I ever even try?

Then the chapter takes the story up a notch. God sends a prophet with message of a multiple choice punishment for the sin. To me, this is just zany. Seriously, stop and read it now. I can't make it any weirder than it already reads. "David, choose punishment A, B, or C for choosing to measure your worth outside of me." David wisely asks God to choose for him. God picked C: a plague. 

Finally, it gets to the part of the story that really applies to you, me, and our fast. David goes to build an altar to make sacrifices to end the plague. A generous donor offers to give David the land, the materials, and even the animals to sacrifice. But David says something that I hope all of us can say each day of this fast. "I won't make a sacrifice to the Lord that costs me nothing."

Again today, I will build an altar and lay a sacrifice on it that I hope honors God. It will cost me my convenience, my comfort, and take some serious willpower and commitment. I'm glad I have my friends to worship God with me by fasting. Today I will pray that each one of you will build an altar and lay something on it that costs you something. I pray that all of us will turn away from trying to define ourselves outside of our relationship with our Father.