Wed.’s Devo - Israel’s Battles -

Read: 1 Chronicles 19:1-21:30; Romans 2:25-3:8; Psalm 11:1-7; Proverbs 19:10-12 Nahash, king of the Ammonites died and David wanted to pay his respects to Nahash’s son Hanun. David sent ambassadors to honor him. The princes of the Ammonites told Hanun, not to trust them because they had really come to spy out their land. Hanun believed his princes and had his men shave the ambassador’s heads and cut off their garments at the hip and send them home. *** When David heard what Hanun had done to his men he had them stay in Jericho till their beards had grown back. This incident would surely end in a battle. Hanun hired men of Mesopotamia, Aram-maacah, and Zobah to fight with them against Israel. *** Joab divided his army into two divisions and defeated both the Ammonites and the Syrians. The Syrians surrendered and became subject to David. The next year, Joab led the army against the Ammonites and defeated them. *** Then they went to war against the Philistines. They had giants, but they were no match for God. *** Since David was conquering all Satan’s men on earth, Satan himself stood up to fight. He enticed David to number his people. Joab tried to talk him out of it, knowing it was wrong, but David refused to listen. He sent Joab out to number the people. *** God sent Gad the seer to rebuke David for numbering the people and he gave him his choice of punishment: 3 years of famine, 3 months of being defeated by their enemies, or 3 days of God’s sword. David chose to be disciplined by God because he was merciful. *** God sent out his death angel with a plague that killed 70,000 of his people. David saw the angel about to lift his sword against the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite on his way to Jerusalem. David plead with God to punish only his family since he was the one who sinned. *** Gad went to David and told him to offer sacrifices on the threshing floor of Ornan to atone for his sin. David bought the piece of land from Ornan and offered sacrifices to the Lord. God answered him with fire from heaven and commanded the angel to put up his sword. The plague was stopped. *** In Romans, Paul explains that circumcision was always a heart issue, not just a physical requirement. Circumcision was a symbol to show that a person had given their heart to the Lord, just like repentance was a spiritual circumcision of the heart. So, the uncircumcised were the same as the circumcised if they had cleansed their heart and given it to the Lord. *** Lord, may we have clean hands and a pure heart. May our worship be pure and undefiled. Thank you for your discipline and your mercy.