Reignಮಾದರಿ

Taking a census seems an innocent thing—a boring administrative task with little spiritual significance. A lot of modern nations conduct them to make sure funds and representation are distributed the way they should be. But when David called for a census of Israel, God wasn’t happy about it. That’s because behind David’s census was a sinful aspiration. David was hoping to discover exactly how many fighting men he had. In other words, he wanted to know how many battle-ready soldiers he’d have if he were to call up the troops for battle. We might think this was a wise move! But in God’s economy, it showed that David didn’t trust God. That’s because “nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few” (1 Samuel 14:6). The size of the army doesn’t matter if God is with the troops. But David didn’t want to trust God—at least not completely. That was too risky for him. So, he wanted numbers.

We often do the same thing: We try to tally up our resources for whatever we’re facing. It’s why our brains decide—usually at the effective time of 3 a.m.—to walk through all of the “what-if”s that could happen in situations that we might face. We’re looking to figure out what resources we have to face the situation that’s before us. But God doesn’t want us scampering. He wants us to rest. To depend on Him. Like David, we don’t need to tally what we see as our resources; we are the sons and daughters of the King. God values when we count Him as our greatest resource. And our hearts will rest as we do.