MAKING RESTITUTION

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On that day Gad went to David and said to him, "Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." So David went up, as the Lord had commanded through Gad.

When Araunah looked and saw the king and his men coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.

Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?"

"To buy your threshing floor," David answered, "so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped."

Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take whatever pleases him and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. O king, Araunah gives all this to the king." Araunah also said to him, "May the Lord your God accept you."

But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing."

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them. David built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered prayer in behalf of the land and the plague on Israel was stopped.

2 Samuel 24:18-25

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As 2 Samuel ends, we find David placing himself and Israel in a tough situation because he had put his faith in the wrong places…ordering a census so he could feel confident in the large number of fighting men at his disposal instead of simply acknowledging that all the might and power over Israel came from God alone.

You’ll recall from yesterday’s message that after David had confessed his sinfulness, God offered him three options through the prophet Gad…each a consequence sent as judgment. Of the three, David chose to have Israel suffer a plague for three days and this led to 70 thousand of his people dying before God stopped His destructive angel just before he attacked Jerusalem. It was at this point that David asked for mercy upon his people…arguing that he and his family should be the ones suffering because it was his sin that had angered God.

And so in the closing verses of chapter 24, we find David seeking to reconcile things with God so to end the plague and save his people. We see where this reconciliation started and ended with a return to worship where God was given the full honor, glory, and praise that He deserved. It was the only appropriate thing for David to do and it’s what we need to do as believers as well, especially when we need to get right with God in our lives.

Back to the scriptures where we see the prophet Gad going to David with this demand from the Lord:

“Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."

It was an order David obeyed and as he went to Araunah, we read where he bowed before his king, wondering why he had come. David tells Araunah that he was there to buy his threshing floor to “build an altar to the Lord” so that “the plague on the people may be stopped”. And with that, Araunah doesn’t hesitate to give David what he wanted…free of charge. Through his words, we see where he was willing to surrender whatever David needed to build the altar and offer the proper sacrifices to God to resolve the judgment, hoping that the Lord might accept the offerings.

Well, David had one problem with Araunah’s offer. We read where he refused to accept it unless he could pay Araunah for everything because he wouldn’t “sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." And so “David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them” before building “an altar to the Lord” and sacrificing “burnt offerings and fellowship offerings”. His actions led to the Lord answering the “prayer in behalf of the land” and stopping “the plague on Israel”.

Through David’s actions, we see where returning to the Lord’s favor after committing sin requires sacrifice, not in the way of offerings burnt on an altar but rather through offering up one’s heart to Him. David didn’t seek a free ride back to God’s favor but showed through his actions that he was willing to lay down whatever was needed to make things right, saving himself and his people in the process.

You know, before God sent His only Son Jesus from Heaven to earth, all people were in a state of enmity with God, sinners who fell short of His glory (Romans 3:23). Restitution was needed but it needed to be a divine sacrifice in order to atone for the transgressions of every single person who had been created. Without such a sacrifice, mankind was destined for destruction and an eternity in Hell.

So what did God do?

He willingly surrendered His only Son, sending Him to earth to be the Savior of the world. In turn, Jesus willingly carried out the will of His Father and laid His life down so to save sinners like you and me.

Friends, if God and Jesus could give up so much for us, then surely we can surrender to them today, giving them our lives so they can lead us in ways of righteousness. After all, isn’t being a Christian mean one needs to be Christ-like?

Just because we’re saved doesn’t mean we won’t sin. Unfortunately, it’s a part of who we are as humans. But we can drastically minimize the times we commit wrongs before God by committing to live the way Jesus did and when we error, making proper restitution with the Lord through repentance so to get back on good terms with Him.

Thanks be to God for His salvation plan and for His Son Jesus who instituted it. Let’s honor them both by honoring them with the way we live each and every day.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.