Tues. Devo - "Counting" the Cost

Read 2 Sam 24
I've always wondered why God got so upset about numbering the people. He told Moses to number the people but got mad when David did. After studying and asking God about it I came to this conclusion. God had said that Israel would be like the sand of the sea - too many to count. Counting had to do with judgement and pride. 2 Co. 10:12 talks about not making ourselves of the number, or comparing ourselves with others. It says that measuring ourselves by ourselves and comparing ourselves amoung ourselves is not wise. For the Israelites, God was mad at their disobedience and wanted to judge their sin, so he moved on David to count them. Joab saw the danger of this in the sense of pride and begged David not to, but David had his mind set.
As soon as the task was accomplished David was sorry. God was going to punish the people because of their sin but he choose to go through David. He gave David the choice for his people. David chose wisely. He put the people in God's hand because he knew how much God loved his people and would perhaps be merciful. God was, and stopped the plague at the threshing floor of Araunah. "Araunah" means "scarlet" which refers to Jesus' blood, which is the only thing standing between us and our rightful judgement. The plague stopped here because all sickness, curses, plague, judgement, etc. stop at the cross. David went to Araunah and tried to buy the threshing floor (which is a place of judgement), Araunah tried to give it to David. David refused to offer God anything that didn't cost him something. The cross is free but it comes with a great price - our lives. Salvation without sacrifice ends in sloppy grace and an immature Christian.
The cost of the field was 50 shekels which what the law requires a person to pay to sanctify his field. (Ex. 30:12) I find that interesting since the land was cursed in the garden of Eden and Jesus blood was poured out on the ground to sanctify it back.