I Chronicles 21:3
‘But Joab said, “May the LORD add to His people a hundred times as many as they are! My lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why does my lord seek this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt to Israel?”’
We’re not sure why David felt so strongly about this. My first thought is pride. They were quite successful. There wasn’t any hint of desperation of being taken over by an enemy. It appears to be something he could triumph about.
Joab tried to warn him against it. He sees right through it. David doesn’t listen. He’s the king and the most powerful person in Israel. I would imagine that could go to one’s head. There has been a lawyer in the news lately. There have been some allegations of misuse of funds. She is quite powerful in her world. She foolishly took the stand to address these concerns. She was picked apart. She was so used to control she thought she could control the narrative. All this is public now and she has been humbled.
We should heed warnings when they come. They might not be valid, but we should give them some thought. Pray about them. David is often insightful about these things. 2 Samuel 16:10 shares how Doeg was yelling at David and his servants as they were fleeing Jerusalem. One of David’s servants asked David to allow him to slay this one. ‘But the king said, “What business of mine is yours, you sons of Zeruiah? If he curses, and if the LORD has told him, ‘Curse David,’ then who should say, ‘Why have you done so?’”’ He ponders the thought that this may have been from God. So we should take warnings seriously.
One of the beatitudes is “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven”, (Matthew 5:3). This eluded my understanding for a long time. It means that we are greatly deficient and in need of God’s wisdom. To brush off a warning would be foolish. God can speak through many vessels. He enjoys speaking through ones that we don’t expect. 2 Kings 5:13 shares an applicable story. Naaman was a foreign general who had contracted lepersy. He went to Elisha to be healed. Elisha sent through a messenger to go and dip in the Jordan river and be healed. He was mad that he sent it through a messenger and to go in the dirty Jordan. Then his servants approached and spoke to him, saying, “My father, had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?”’ Our pride gets in the way.
We should pray about all warnings. Many may be not applicable, but some may. Be humble and ask. We can be spared many troubles by asking.
God is seeking to warn us to avoid problems. Take them seriously. It’s easy to dismiss, particularly when the messenger isn’t what we expect. They usually come in ways we don’t respect. I think of how the pharisees were offended by Jesus associating with prostitutes and tax collectors. They were the most worst of their time. They trampled on morality. How could these vessels have any value? Jesus saved and changed them. Listen to the warning regardless of how respectable.
John warn us by writing, “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world”.
Lord, thank You for Your warnings. Help us to heed them. But also listening to John and test every spirit.