BSPM 2015 Fall Festivals Newsletter

BSPM 2015 Fall Festivals Newsletter Main Study

(FULL Newsletter WITH ANNOUNCEMENTS is available for FREE download by clicking on to the attachment below...

MAIN STUDY: KING DAVID’S CASTOR OIL ELIXIR--GOOD FOR THE STUPIDITY AND FOOLISHNESS THAT AILS YOU!

OK--now back to this castor oil thing... I wouldn’t be too surprized if you’re not as much of a fan of that stuff as I am. BLECHH!! Just the thought of swallowing that stuff makes me want to go to the nearest toilet and do you-know-what...how about you?

I don’t necessarily recall my mother giving me that stuff in my youth...but I do remember having a similar experience with medicine that for that time in my life was at times equally unpleasant to swallow. I had a ton of problems with allergies and asthma when I was a kid (and being forced to live near cotton gins during ginning season never helped much neither). From the least the time in my earliest personal memory (around three months old or so), I recall my mother having to take me to doctors galore in Plainview and even once every three months or so to a dermatologist in Lubbock (ironically in an office building that was eventually torn down and replaced with a CVS Pharmacy store). And as far as working out in the fields like the rest of my peers in Lockney, forget it...due to my allergies to agricultural chemicals.

I remember even a time or two when I wound up in the emergency room of the Plainview hospital for asthma attacks and such. One of those times involved a dog bite from a Chihuahua where I first found out how deadly my allergy to tetanus medication could be if I wound up taking it. (Thankfully, I never received that medication from those doctors and was simply bandaged back up and sent back home.)

While kids my age were running, jumping, and playing, I sometimes had to use inhalers and medicine from the school nurse. At home, I had to also take some medicines that sometimes weren’t palatable to a young boy’s taste buds. One of those in particular was a type of cough syrup that I was prescribed that looked like an icky shade of green and tasted even worse than that. It wasn’t quite on the level of what most people have said about the taste of castor oil--but I think after having taken that icky-green stuff, I’m still to this day not necessarily enthused about partaking of the actual castor oil neither.

Over this past summer, though--I wound up in a sort of situation of my own making that now makes me wish the cure-all for it WAS castor oil itself--for something the Lord required me to do to attempt to make things right to resolve that situation was just about distasteful and undesirable for me to even contemplate. But His indication and direction (plus what seemed to be a personal temporary financial drought I was going through at the time) made it painfully clear to me that I would continue to have a much harder row to hoe UNLESS AND UNTIL I took this unpalatable action.

I won’t go too much into the gory details of the specifics because they are personal in nature and not necessarily relevant to the overall discussion here. But maybe a portion of a letter I was forced by Him to send to certain people will give you the gist and essence of what I might mean by what things will be discussed throughout the remainder of this particular lesson--

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I am today first forced to write you a sort of heart-to-heart letter that will frankly be one of the hardest letters I have ever had to write in my lifetime. Writing what I’m about to say here, to be honest with you, is about the equivalent to me of having to consume tons of castor oil down my throat all at once with a garden hose running full blast down my throat. But the conviction of the Lord is so strong in my doing this that He has made it clear that my failure in NOT doing this will be a MAJOR hindrance to any further possibility of receiving any additional blessings from Him UNLESS AND UNTIL this particular piece of business is first taken care of. But in contrast, if I will only lay this particular Isaac on the altar, then I will no matter what may happen from here at least feel that I have cleared my conscience of the matters concerned here. I will only ask that you respectfully read this letter all the way through prayerfully and with an open mind and heart about what I’m about to say here.

Please allow me to provide an initial example and Scripture to start with. Numbers 30:2 in the NIV (which has now become one of the most important Scriptures in the ministry that I now know He is leading towards) tells us that “...whatever a man shall vow, he shall do exactly as he has said.” I learned the true in-depth meaning of this many years too late after my months that I lived in Albuquerque.

I first came to Albuquerque around this time of the year over 20 years ago (in retrospect--in impatience and trying to get ahead of what His will for my life might be) to try to finish my required internship and one more Finance course necessary to finish my Bachelor’s from Eastern New Mexico University. I was literally in the last few days before I finished my final classes in Portales the previous spring still trying to find a place ANYWHERE that I could get that internship requirement fulfilled. I then had to go back home to Lockney for that summer working to continue that quest--but without any success. I finally through a job doing telemarketing for a carpet cleaning company in Plainview managed to get enough to pay for an ad in the Albuquerque Journal to find an apartment close to the University of New Mexico that would have all bills paid as a part of it. I then also worked to try to get another student loan required that would cover my expenses of my internship and the retake of a Corporate Finance course (which would later prove to be ironic in itself) via a sort of cooperative agreement between ENMU and UNM.

To say that I was anxiously itching to get out of Lockney fast was a major understatement. So in August immediately before school at UNM started, I inauspiciously arrived to my new Albuquerque home in the middle of the night--first picking up the keys to my new apartment, then hauling all of the stuff I had just taken out of the taxi cab from the office a couple of blocks back and forth to my second-floor apartment where I would call home for the next eight months that would eventually prove to be the absolute roughest time of my life at that point in time.

Let me fast-forward to the most critical point of my ABQ tenure. Things financially while I was there went so far downhill fast that I made some of the worst financial mistakes I ever made. For one, (due in part to religious factors at the time--but also with my stubborn pride being a major contributing factor), I wound up getting so many eviction notices from my apartment that I could have literally used them for wallpaper. I also foolishly bought a car from one of my supervisors at a janitorial cleaning company that I worked at for a couple of months (who, FYI, hardly spoke a lick of English) for $350 (which should have been instead used to pay off those same eviction notices) in which the title had not changed in at least several owners and which I only got to drive twice--the first time in which I got pulled over by a city cop for having no license or registration that eventually forced me to spend a couple of days doing community service picking up trash on the side of the road to pay those tickets off.

But what broke the camel’s back on that deal was the second and last time I drove it to a mechanic that a fellow church member recommended. My failure to pay that mechanic eventually exposed to the pastors of my church at the time and that church member (in which I seemed to be always constantly asking for financial assistance to help with my rent, etc.) the true depth of what I was really facing (even though I put on a good happy face front and show otherwise).

It led to a sort of AA-type intervention by the assistant pastor and fellow church member that would be one of the biggest wakeup calls of my life. That church member made a statement to me that has always haunted me since and heavily influenced some of the things I do (especially in the financial realm)--”...Ifcomes don’t work in Satan’s world.” (In “Walking From Lockney To Jerusalem”, you can read the rest of the story in Chapter 8...or as I like to call it, “the Albuquerque chapter”...) The long and short of that story was that things really went into freefall for me after that and forced me to move back home to Lockney and to one of the worst personal times of my life afterwards as a result.

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Apparently, I’m not the only one who’s made a stupid mistake or two in all of the rodeos I’ve faced in my life so far. According to the report in First Chronicles, King David also made a pretty stupid blunder that didn’t just cost him personally, but also had a negative impact on a lot of people as well in the process. Here’s how the King James Version and how several other translations view this unique pickle that King David got himself unnecessarily into:

[KING JAMES VERSION:]

Ch 21:1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

1Ch 21:2 And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it.

1Ch 21:3 And Joab answered, The LORD make his people an hundred times so many more as they be: but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? why then doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?

1Ch 21:4 Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem.

1Ch 21:5 And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword.

1Ch 21:6 But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them: for the king's word was abominable to Joab.

1Ch 21:7 And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel.

1Ch 21:8 And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing: but now, I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

1Ch 21:9 And the LORD spake unto Gad, David's seer, saying,

1Ch 21:10 Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.

1Ch 21:11 So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Choose thee

1Ch 21:12 Either three years' famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.

1Ch 21:13 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man.

1Ch 21:14 So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.

1Ch 21:15 And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

1Ch 21:16 And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the LORD stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.

1Ch 21:17 And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, O LORD my God, be on me, and on my father's house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued.

1Ch 21:18 Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

1Ch 21:19 And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the LORD.

1Ch 21:20 And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.

1Ch 21:21 And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshingfloor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.

1Ch 21:22 Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an altar therein unto the LORD: thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people.

1Ch 21:23 And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all.

1Ch 21:24 And king David said to Ornan, Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings without cost.

1Ch 21:25 So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.

1Ch 21:26 And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the LORD; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.

1Ch 21:27 And the LORD commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof.

1Ch 21:28 At that time when David saw that the LORD had answered him in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there.

1Ch 21:29 For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon.

1Ch 21:30 But David could not go before it to enquire of God: for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

[COMPLETE JEWISH BIBLE VERSION:]

1Ch 21:1 The Adversary [Hebrew: Satan] now rose up against Isra'el and incited David to take a census of Isra'el.

1Ch 21:2 David said to Yo'av and the leaders of the people, "Go, take a census of Isra'el from Be'er-Sheva to Dan; then report to me, so that I can know how many of them there are."

1Ch 21:3 Yo'av said, "May Adonai make his people a hundred times as many as they are now! But, my lord the king, aren't they all my lord's servants in any case? Why does my lord the king require this? Why should he bring guilt upon Isra'el?"

1Ch 21:4 Nevertheless, the king's word prevailed against Yo'av. So Yo'av left and went through all Isra'el, after which he came to Yerushalayim.

1Ch 21:5 Yo'av reported the results of the census to David: in Isra'el were 1,100,000 men who could handle a sword, while Y'hudah had 470,000 men who could handle a sword.

1Ch 21:6 But he didn't count Levi and Binyamin among them, because the king's order was hateful to Yo'av.

1Ch 21:7 God was displeased with this and therefore punished Isra'el.

1Ch 21:8 David said to God, "I have greatly sinned by doing this. But now, please! Put aside your servant's sin, for I have done a very foolish thing."

1Ch 21:9 Adonai spoke to Gad, David's seer:

1Ch 21:10 "Go and tell David that Adonai says, 'I am offering you a choice of three punishments: choose one of them, and I will execute it against you.' "

1Ch 21:11 Gad came to David and said to him, "Take your choice:

1Ch 21:12 three years of famine; or three months of being swept away by your enemies, while your enemies' sword overwhelms you; or three days of Adonai's sword — plague in the land, with the angel of Adonai destroying everywhere in Isra'el's territory. Now think about what answer I should give to the one who sent me."

1Ch 21:13 David said to Gad, "This is very hard for me. Let me fall into the hand of Adonai, because his mercies are very great, rather than have me fall into the hand of man."

1Ch 21:14 So Adonai sent a plague on Isra'el; 70,000 of the people of Isra'el died.

1Ch 21:15 God also sent an angel to destroy Yerushalayim, but when he was about to carry out the destruction, Adonai saw it and changed his mind about causing such distress; so he said to the destroying angel, "Enough! Now withdraw your hand." The angel of Adonai was standing at the threshing-floor of Ornan the Y'vusi.

1Ch 21:16 David raised his eyes and saw the angel of Adonai standing between the earth and the sky, and in his hand was a drawn sword stretched out over Yerushalayim. Then David and the leaders, wearing sackcloth, fell on their faces.

1Ch 21:17 David said to God, "Wasn't it I who ordered the census of the people? Yes, I am the one who has sinned and done something very wicked. But these sheep, what have they done? Please! Let your hand be against me and my father's family, but not against your people, striking them with this plague!"

1Ch 21:18 Then the angel of Adonai ordered Gad to tell David to go and set up an altar to Adonai on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Y'vusi.

1Ch 21:19 David went up at Gad's word, spoken in Adonai's name.

1Ch 21:20 Ornan turned back and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. As Ornan was threshing wheat,

1Ch 21:21 David approached Ornan. When Ornan looked and saw David, he went out from the threshing-floor and prostrated himself before David with his face to the ground.

1Ch 21:22 Then David said to Ornan, "Let me have the parcel with this threshing-floor, so that I can build on it an altar to Adonai — I will pay you its full value — so that the plague will be lifted from the people."

1Ch 21:23 Ornan said to David, "Take it for yourself, and let my lord the king do what seems good to him. I'm giving you the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing-sledges for firewood and the wheat for the grain offering — I'm giving it all."

1Ch 21:24 But King David said to Ornan, "No; I insist on buying it from you at the full price. I refuse to take what is yours for Adonai or offer a burnt offering that costs me nothing."

1Ch 21:25 So David bought the place from Ornan for 600 shekels of gold by weight [fifteen pounds].

1Ch 21:26 Then David built an altar to Adonai there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. He called on Adonai, who answered him from heaven by fire on the altar for burnt offerings.

1Ch 21:27 Adonai gave an order to the angel, and he put his sword back in its sheath.

1Ch 21:28 When David saw that Adonai had answered him at the threshing-floor of Ornan the Y'vusi, he sacrificed there.

1Ch 21:29 For at that time the tabernacle of Adonai, which Moshe had made in the desert, together with the altar for burnt offerings, were in the high place at Giv`on.

1Ch 21:30 But David could not go into its presence to consult God, because the sword of the angel of Adonai had struck him with terror.

[JEWISH PUBLICATION SOCIETY TANAKH VERSION:]

1Ch 21:1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.

1Ch 21:2 And David said to Joab and to the princes of the people: 'Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring me word, that I may know the sum of them.'

1Ch 21:3 And Joab said: 'The LORD make His people a hundred times so many more as they are; but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? why doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of guilt unto Israel?'

1Ch 21:4 Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem.

1Ch 21:5 And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and a hundred thousand men that drew sword; and Judah was four hundred three-score and ten thousand men that drew sword.

1Ch 21:6 But Levi and Benjamin he did not number among them; for the king's word was abominable to Joab.

1Ch 21:7 And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He smote Israel.

1Ch 21:8 And David said unto God: 'I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing; but now, put away, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of Thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.'

1Ch 21:9 And the LORD spoke unto Gad, David's seer, saying:

1Ch 21:10 'Go and speak unto David, saying: Thus saith the LORD: I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.'

1Ch 21:11 So Gad came to David, and said unto him: 'Thus saith the LORD: Take which thou wilt:

1Ch 21:12 either three years of famine; or three months to be swept away before thy foes, while the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to Him that sent me.'

1Ch 21:13 And David said unto Gad: 'I am in a great strait; let me fall now into the hand of the LORD, for very great are His mercies; and let me not fall into the hand of man.'

1Ch 21:14 So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel; and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.

1Ch 21:15 And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it; and as he was about to destroy, the LORD beheld, and He repented Him of the evil, and said to the destroying angel: 'It is enough; now stay thy hand.' And the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

1Ch 21:16 And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the LORD standing between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.

1Ch 21:17 And David said unto God: 'Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? let Thy hand, I pray Thee, O LORD my God, be against me, and against my father's house; but not against Thy people, that they should be plagued.'

1Ch 21:18 Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

1Ch 21:19 And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spoke in the name of the LORD.

1Ch 21:20 And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons that were with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.

1Ch 21:21 And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing-floor, and bowed down to David with his face to the ground.

1Ch 21:22 Then David said to Ornan: 'Give me the place of this threshing-floor, that I may build thereon an altar unto the LORD; for the full price shalt thou give it me; that the plague may be stayed from the people.'

1Ch 21:23 And Ornan said unto David: 'Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes; lo, I give thee the oxen for burnt-offerings, and the threshing-instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meal-offering; I give it all'

1Ch 21:24 And king David said to Ornan: 'Nay, but I will verily buy it for the full price; for I will not take that which is thine for the LORD, nor offer a burnt-offering without cost.'

1Ch 21:25 So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.

1Ch 21:26 And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and called upon the LORD; and He answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt-offering.

1Ch 21:27 And the LORD commanded the angel; and he put up his sword back into the sheath thereof.

1Ch 21:28 At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there.

1Ch 21:29 For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt-offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon.

1Ch 21:30 But David could not go before it to inquire of God; for he was terrified because of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

[BIBLE IN BASIC ENGLISH VERSION]

1Ch 21:1 Now Satan, designing evil against Israel, put into David's mind the impulse to take the number of Israel.

1Ch 21:2 And David said to Joab and the captains of the people, Now let all Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, be numbered; and give me word so that I may be certain of their number.

1Ch 21:3 And Joab said, May the Lord make his people a hundred times more in number than they are; but, my lord king, are they not all my lord's servants? why would my lord have this done? why will he become a cause of sin to Israel?

1Ch 21:4 But the king's word was stronger than Joab's. So Joab went out and went through all Israel and came to Jerusalem.

1Ch 21:5 And Joab gave David the number of all the people; all the men of Israel, able to take up arms, were one million, one hundred thousand men; and those of Judah were four hundred and seventy thousand men, able to take up arms.

1Ch 21:6 But Levi and Benjamin were not numbered among them, for Joab was disgusted with the king's order.

1Ch 21:7 And God was not pleased with this thing; so he sent punishment on Israel.

1Ch 21:8 Then David said to God, Great has been my sin in doing this; but now, be pleased to take away the sin of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.

1Ch 21:9 Then the word of the Lord came to Gad, David's seer, saying,

1Ch 21:10 Go and say to David, The Lord says, Three things are offered to you: say which of them you will have, so that I may do it to you.

1Ch 21:11 So Gad came to David and said to him, The Lord says, Take whichever you will:

1Ch 21:12 Three years when there will not be enough food; or three months of war, when you will go in flight before your haters, being in great danger of the sword; or three days of the sword of the Lord, disease in the land, and the angel of the Lord taking destruction through all the land of Israel. Now give thought to the answer I am to take back to him who sent me.

1Ch 21:13 And David said to Gad, This is a hard decision for me to make: let me come into the hands of the Lord, for great are his mercies: let me not come into the hands of men.

1Ch 21:14 So the Lord sent disease on Israel, causing the death of seventy thousand men.

1Ch 21:15 And God sent an angel to Jerusalem for its destruction: and when he was about to do so, the Lord saw, and had regret for the evil, and said to the angel of destruction, It is enough; do no more. Now the angel of the Lord was by the grain-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

1Ch 21:16 And David, lifting up his eyes, saw the angel of the Lord there between earth and heaven, with an uncovered sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the responsible men, clothed in haircloth, went down on their faces.

1Ch 21:17 And David said to God, Was it not I who gave the order for the people to be numbered? It is I who have done the sin and the great wrong; but these are only sheep; what have they done? let your hand, O Lord God, be lifted up against me and against my family, but not against your people to send disease on them.

1Ch 21:18 Then the angel of the Lord gave orders to Gad to say to David that he was to go and put up an altar to the Lord on the grain-floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

1Ch 21:19 And David went up, as Gad had said in the name of the Lord.

1Ch 21:20 And Ornan, turning back, saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him went to a secret place. Now Ornan was crushing his grain.

1Ch 21:21 And when David came, Ornan, looking, saw him, and came out from the grain-floor and went down on his face to the earth before him.

1Ch 21:22 Then David said to Ornan, Give me the place where this grain-floor is, so that I may put up an altar here to the Lord: let me have it for its full price; so that this disease may be stopped among the people.

1Ch 21:23 And Ornan said to David, Take it, and let my lord the king do what seems right to him. See, I give you the oxen for burned offerings and the grain-cleaning instruments for fire-wood, and the grain for the meal offering; I give it all.

1Ch 21:24 And King David said to Ornan, No; I will certainly give you the full price for it, because I will not take for the Lord what is yours, or give a burned offering without payment.

1Ch 21:25 So David gave Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place.

1Ch 21:26 And David put up an altar there to the Lord, offering burned offerings and peace-offerings with prayers to the Lord; and he gave him an answer from heaven, sending fire on the altar of burned offering.

1Ch 21:27 Then the Lord gave orders to the angel, and he put back his sword into its cover.

1Ch 21:28 At that time, when David saw that the Lord had given him an answer on the grain-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he made an offering there.

1Ch 21:29 For the House of the Lord, which Moses had made in the waste land, and the altar of burned offerings, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon.

1Ch 21:30 But David was not able to go before it to get directions from the Lord, so great was his fear of the sword of the angel of the Lord.

But I personally think the “piece de resistance” to this puppy is really said best by the way the CEV describes what took place...

[CONTEMPORARY ENGLISH VERSION:]

1Ch 21:1 Satan decided to cause trouble for Israel by making David think it was a good idea to find out how many people there were in Israel and Judah.

1Ch 21:2 David told Joab and the army commanders, "Count everyone in Israel, from the town of Beersheba in the south all the way north to Dan. Then I will know how many people can serve in my army."

1Ch 21:3 Joab answered, "Your Majesty, even if the LORD made your kingdom a hundred times larger, you would still rule everyone in it. Why do you need to know how many soldiers there are? Don't you think that would make the whole nation angry?"

1Ch 21:4 But David would not change his mind. And so Joab went everywhere in Israel and Judah and counted the people. He returned to Jerusalem

1Ch 21:5 and told David that the total number of men who could serve in the army was one million one hundred thousand in Israel and four hundred seventy thousand in Judah.

1Ch 21:6 Joab refused to include anyone from the tribes of Levi and Benjamin, because he still disagreed with David's orders.

1Ch 21:7 David's order to count the people made God angry, and he punished Israel.

1Ch 21:8 David prayed, "I am your servant. But what I did was stupid and terribly wrong. Please forgive me."

1Ch 21:9 The LORD said to Gad, one of David's prophets,

1Ch 21:10 "Tell David that I will punish him in one of three ways. But he will have to choose which one it will be."

1Ch 21:11 Gad went to David and told him: You must choose how the LORD will punish you:

1Ch 21:12 Will there be three years when the land won't grow enough food for its people? Or will your enemies constantly defeat you for three months? Or will the LORD send a horrible disease to strike your land for three days? Think about it and decide, because I have to give your answer to God who sent me.

1Ch 21:13 David was miserable and said, "It's a terrible choice to make! But the LORD is kind, and I'd rather have him punish me than for anyone else to do it."

1Ch 21:14 So the LORD sent a horrible disease on Israel, and seventy thousand Israelites died.

1Ch 21:15 Then he sent an angel to destroy the city of Jerusalem. But just as the angel was about to do that, the LORD felt sorry for all the suffering he had caused the people, and he told the angel, "Stop! They have suffered enough." This happened at the threshing place that belonged to Araunah the Jebusite.

1Ch 21:16 David saw the LORD's angel in the air, holding a sword over Jerusalem. He and the leaders of Israel, who were all wearing sackcloth, bowed with their faces to the ground,

1Ch 21:17 and David prayed, "It's my fault! I sinned by ordering the people to be counted. They have done nothing wrong--they are innocent sheep. LORD God, please punish me and my family. Don't let the disease wipe out your people."

1Ch 21:18 The LORD's angel told the prophet Gad to tell David that he must go to Araunah's threshing place and build an altar in honor of the LORD.

1Ch 21:19 David followed the LORD's instructions.

1Ch 21:20 Araunah and his four sons were threshing wheat at the time, and when they saw the angel, the four sons ran to hide.

1Ch 21:21 Just then, David arrived, and when Araunah saw him, he stopped his work and bowed down.

1Ch 21:22 David said, "Would you sell me your threshing place, so I can build an altar on it to the LORD? Then this disease will stop killing the people. I'm willing to pay whatever you say it's worth."

1Ch 21:23 Araunah answered, "Take it, Your Majesty, and do whatever you want with it. I'll even give you the oxen for the sacrifice and the wheat for the grain sacrifice. And you can use the threshing-boards for the fire. It's all yours!"

1Ch 21:24 But David replied, "No! I want to pay you what they're worth. I can't just take something from you and then offer the LORD a sacrifice that cost me nothing."

1Ch 21:25 So David paid Araunah six hundred gold coins for his threshing place.

1Ch 21:26 David built an altar and offered sacrifices to please the LORD and sacrifices to ask his blessing. David prayed, and the LORD answered him by sending fire down on the altar.

1Ch 21:27 Then the LORD commanded the angel to put the sword away.

1Ch 21:28 When David saw that the LORD had answered his prayer, he offered more sacrifices there at the threshing place,

1Ch 21:29 because he was afraid of the angel's sword and did not want to go all the way to Gibeon. That's where the sacred tent that Moses had made in the desert was kept, as well as the altar where sacrifices were offered to the LORD.

What might have been at the root of this entire dumb so-called “bright idea” that King David had? Maybe a brief outline from “The Biblical Illustrator” can shed a little further light into this mystery here...

[THE BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR COMMENTARY VIA E-SWORD:]

David’s sin and repentance

I. David’s sin.

1. Its occasion: pride and vainglory—“that I may know it.”

2. Its unseen but real source: Satan (1Sa_24:1).

II. The Lord’s displeasure because of his sin (1Ch_21:9-17).

III. The atonement for his sin, made on the site of the Lord’s house (chap. 20:1-2; 1Ki_6:1-38; 1Ki_7:1-51; 1Ki_8:1-66); as the foundation of the spiritual house (2Co_6:16-17; 1Pe_2:4-5; Eph_2:21-22). The temple therefore rests as it were on—

1. An atonement for sin (Rom_5:11).

2. Sin put away, 1Ch_21:17 (Dan_9:24).

3. Wrath averted by sacrifice (verse 16:26-27; 2Sa_24:16; Isa_42:21; 1Pe_1:18-19; 1Pe_2:24; Col_1:20; Col_2:14-15). (Clergyman’s Magazine.)

David’s self-confidence

I. The sin of David in numbering the people was self-confidence, pride in his own strength, and forgetfulness of the source of all his strength, even of God. It was the greater sin in him because he had had such marvellous, such visible, witnesses of God’s love, and care, and guidance. Past experience might and should have taught him that his strength was not in himself, but in his God.

II. The sins of pride, and self-confidence, and forgetfulness of God are only too common amongst ourselves. When men dwell securely, in full peace and health, they grow careless in religion. God is not much present with them; they seem sufficient of themselves to keep themselves and to make themselves happy. (R. D. B. Rawnsley.)

And I thought that I did something stupid in which I needed a good swift kick in the posterior... (Hey, this isn’t pleasant letting you in on this for me, either...all this revealing these things to you does for me on my end is just give me a BIGGER reminder of how senseless the whole thing was and that I had no one else to blame for it but me, myself, and I...) Good people that shouldn’t have had to pay the price for David’s mistakes wound up dying anyway...and THIS was the same guy that God Himself anointed and called him “a man after my own heart”?

Let’s look at this now from another perspective. In one of the church fellowships I go to actively, the Bible study sessions have been primarily focused on both of Peter’s epistles. Maybe from the viewpoint of this particular apostle of our Lord who definitely made his own share of stupid mistakes and statements in his time (but who also at the end was finally able to finish his own race before his Master well), we can grasp this topic a little better. The God’s Word translation of part of Peter’s first letter to the Church keenly describes the difference between suffering for the stupid mistakes you make and what the Word would consider TRUE persecution for His name’s sake--

1Pe 2:12 Live decent lives among unbelievers. Then, although they ridicule you as if you were doing wrong while they are watching you do good things, they will praise God on the day he comes to help you.

1Pe 2:13 Place yourselves under the authority of human governments to please the Lord. Obey the emperor. He holds the highest position of authority.

1Pe 2:14 Also obey governors. They are people the emperor has sent to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right.

1Pe 2:15 God wants you to silence the ignorance of foolish people by doing what is right.

1Pe 2:16 Live as free people, but don't hide behind your freedom when you do evil. Instead, use your freedom to serve God.

1Pe 2:17 Honor everyone. Love your brothers and sisters in the faith. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

1Pe 2:18 Slaves, place yourselves under the authority of your owners and show them complete respect. Obey not only those owners who are good and kind, but also those who are unfair.

NOW--here’s the big asterisks (*********) that we especially need to pay attention to here...

1Pe 2:19 God is pleased if a person is aware of him while enduring the pains of unjust suffering.

1Pe 2:20 What credit do you deserve if you endure a beating for doing something wrong? But if you endure suffering for doing something good, God is pleased with you.

1Pe 2:21 God called you to endure suffering because Christ suffered for you. He left you an example so that you could follow in his footsteps.

1Pe 2:22 Christ never committed any sin. He never spoke deceitfully.

1Pe 2:23 Christ never verbally abused those who verbally abused him. When he suffered, he didn't make any threats but left everything to the one who judges fairly.

1Pe 2:24 Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so that freed from our sins, we could live a life that has God's approval. His wounds have healed you.

1Pe 2:25 You were like lost sheep. Now you have come back to the shepherd and bishop of your lives.

How might all of this relate to the upcoming Holy Day season ahead? Remember the major context involved with the Day of Atonement/Yom Kippur--as in repentance and reconciliation? If you have a chance to go on YouTube sometime, I’d recommend doing a search on the CBS series “Northern Exposure” typing in the search words “Season 6”. The reason is this...Forever in my memory burned in my mind about that particular series was Episode 3 of that show’s last season called “Shofar, So Good” in which one of the major characters (Dr. Joel Fleishmann) is seen observing as a nominal Jew the festival of Yom Kippur and how others around him in the town of Cicely, Alaska actually seem to act out things during that episode that reflect some of the very prominent things about Yom Kippur. That to me is a classic example of how true at times the traditional saying about the month of Elul and the “Days of Awe”where according to Jewish tradition, it is said, “...The gates of heaven are open on Rosh HaShanah--and they are closed on Yom Kippur.”

Several specific things the Jewish people do as a part of the observance of Yom Kippur are also interesting examples for all of us to observe and do any time of the year. One is the emphasis of asking others for forgiveness for the wrongs and stupid things you’ve done against them and working to make restitution for those you have offended in any way. The second is prominent in one of the initial services of the High Day called the “Kol Nidre” when those in the congregation renounce any vows they may have foolishly made throughout the year just past and ask forgiveness from God for making such stupid vows.

But the third custom amongst some Jews that takes place during the daytime part of Yom Kippur is an even more fascinating one. It’s based on this passage in Ecclesiastes--

Ecc 11:1 Throw your bread on the surface of the water, because you will find it again after many days.

Ecc 11:2 Divide what you have into seven parts, or even into eight, because you don't know what disaster may happen on earth.

Ecc 11:3 If the clouds are full of rain, they will let it pour down on the earth. If a tree falls north or south, the tree will remain where it fell.

Ecc 11:4 Whoever watches the wind will never plant. Whoever looks at the clouds will never harvest.

Ecc 11:5 Just as you don't know how the breath of life enters the limbs of a child within its mother's womb, you also don't understand how God, who made everything, works.

Ecc 11:6 Plant your seed in the morning, and don't let your hands rest until evening. You don't know whether this field or that field will be profitable or whether both of them will turn out equally well.

Ecc 11:7 Light is sweet, and it is good for one's eyes to see the sun.

Ecc 11:8 Even though people may live for many years, they should enjoy every one of them. But they should also remember there will be many dark days. Everything that is coming is pointless.

Ecc 11:9 You young people should enjoy yourselves while you're young. You should let your hearts make you happy when you're young. Follow wherever your heart leads you and whatever your eyes see. But realize that God will make you give an account for all these things when he judges everyone.

Ecc 11:10 Get rid of what troubles you or wears down your body, because childhood and youth are pointless.

The custom performed is this...that the individual Jew goes out to a nearby lake or body of water, takes some bread crumbs to represent the sin and wrong done in their lives, and (as the first verse of that chapter literally notes)...”...cast their bread upon the waters” as an outward sign of faith that their sins which they have confessed unto God on that day are forgiven and forgotten for another year.

My good friend--if you find yourself today in a similar pickle that I and King David have found ourselves in, let’s take some hope and comfort from what the prophet Jeremiah said many years ago about the Lord’s compassion and mercy to use...even if we find ourselves going a bit stupid---

Lam 3:21 "The reason I can still find hope is that I keep this one thing in mind:

Lam 3:22 the LORD'S mercy. We were not completely wiped out. His compassion is never limited.

Lam 3:23 It is new every morning. His faithfulness is great.

Lam 3:24 My soul can say, 'The LORD is my lot in life. That is why I find hope in him.'

Lam 3:25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to anyone who seeks help from him.

Lam 3:26 "It is good to continue to hope and wait silently for the LORD to save us.

Lam 3:27 It is good for people to endure burdens when they're young.

Lam 3:28 They should sit alone and remain silent because the LORD has laid these burdens on them.

Lam 3:29 They should put their mouths in the dust. Maybe a reason to hope exists.

Lam 3:30 They should turn their cheeks to the one who strikes them and take their fill of insults.

Lam 3:31 "The Lord will not reject such people forever.

Lam 3:32 Even if he makes us suffer, he will have compassion in keeping with the richness of his mercy.

Lam 3:33 He does not willingly bring suffering or grief to anyone,

Lam 3:34 crush any prisoner on earth underfoot,

Lam 3:35 deny people their rights in the presence of the Most High God,

Lam 3:36 or deprive people of justice in court. The Lord isn't happy to see these things.

Lam 3:37 Who was it who spoke and it came into being? It was the Lord who gave the order.

Lam 3:38 Both good and bad come from the mouth of the Most High God.

Lam 3:39 "Why should any living mortal (any person) complain about being punished for sin?

Lam 3:40 Let us look closely at our ways and examine them and then return to the LORD.

A few quick observations about King David’s particular circumstance (and also mine by extension) that I might offer you as a bit of hope to all of us for encouragement and exhortation before I close--

) The whole thing could have been a LOT more worse! Now I can hear you sarcastically saying, “Thanks a lot, Coy...how much worse can it get than THIS?” Well, for starters, did you notice the way Joab didn’t quite follow his boss’s order to the exact letter and detail? He left the Levites (i.e.--the priests) out of the count and probably also (as you might later notice throughout what’s left in 2nd Chronicles) tried to look out for his folks at home by not counting them as well.

Also, did you notice that God actually ALLOWED David to CHOOSE what punishment he should be given? Talk about picking your poison--makes that castor oil taste real good right now, doesn’t it? What if God HADN’T allowed David to choose how he should be spanked and sent to his room without supper? Think about that, eh? And then even AFTER God gave David a choice of preferred punishment, what if David had chosen one of the OTHER choices? I don’t think any of us would want to go down any of those roads either.

) It’s NEVER too late to repent and ask forgiveness of Him--for He is VERY rich in mercy! It doesn’t by any means that you will be able to completely avoid the negative consequences of your actions or keep from reaping the whirlwind of the bad seeds you’ve sown (despite your petitions to Him otherwise for crop failure). But He does promise you that He’ll at least see you THROUGH them and at the same time help you to learn valuable lessons from that stupid choice experience so that you can work on making better choices in the future.
) Another reported tradition was that a major reason for God’s displeasure for David doing the census in the first place wasn’t necessarily as much the fact that he did it in the first place--but in the very way it was done. According to the Torah in the book of Exodus, THIS was the way ANY census was to be done in Israel--

Exo 30:11 Then the LORD said to Moses,

Exo 30:12 "When you take a census of the Israelites, each person must pay the LORD a ransom for his life when he is counted. Then no plague will happen to them when they are counted.

Exo 30:13 As each person is counted, he must give one-fifth of an ounce of silver using the standard weight of the holy place. This one-fifth of an ounce of silver is a contribution to the LORD.

Exo 30:14 Everyone counted who is at least 20 years old must give this contribution to the LORD.

Exo 30:15 The rich must not give more than one-fifth of an ounce of silver, and the poor must not give less. This contribution is given to make peace with the LORD and make your lives acceptable to the LORD.

Exo 30:16 Take the money the Israelites give to make peace with the LORD, and use it to pay the expenses of the tent of meeting. It will be a reminder for the Israelites in the LORD'S presence that the sins in their lives are removed."

Pay VERY special attention to verse 15:

In otherwards, EVERYONE was counted as having EQUAL value to God in His sight. This eliminated the extremes of pride and arrogance in each person on one ditch and unnecessary feelings of guilt, shame, and unworthiness on the other. All equal to God and the same in His sight...BUT YET...

[GOD’S WORD TRANSLATION:]

Exo 20:22 The LORD said to Moses, "This is what you must say to the Israelites: You've seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven.

Exo 20:23 Never make any gods of silver or gold for yourselves. Never worship them.

Exo 20:24 "You must build an altar for me made out of dirt. Sacrifice your burnt offerings and your fellowship offerings, your sheep, goats, and cattle on it. Wherever I choose to have my name remembered, I will come to you and bless you.

Exo 20:25 If you build an altar for me made out of stones, never make it with cut stone blocks. If you use a chisel on it, you will make it unacceptable to me.

Exo 20:26 Never use stairs to go up to my altar. Otherwise, people will be able to see under your clothes."

[KING JAMES VERSION:]

Gen 11:1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

Gen 11:2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

Gen 11:3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

Gen 11:4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

Why would I dare put these two chapters side by side like this--and what does this have to do with a census of King David in the first place? Look very closely AGAIN at both of the following verses--

Gen 11:3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

Exo 20:25 If you build an altar for me made out of stones, never make it with cut stone blocks. If you use a chisel on it, you will make it unacceptable to me.

WHY is this significant? According to the Jewish sages, the folks involved with the building of the tower of Babel when they built it with BRICKS were in essence emphasizing unity via UNIFORMITY (i.e.--everyone being EXACTLY the same--and just as equally expendable). For instance, even if someone fell off the tower and died, the building didn’t stop or miss a beat. The individual life was disregarded as nothing so that the building effort would continue.

BUT if you look at the way the walls of Jerusalem are built, you will see that each stone is DIFFERENT and is NOT the same length. The Sages regard this as the Lord’s recognition of the concept of unity through DIVERSITY--with each human life having unique and distinct qualities and abilities equal in value of life to others, YET with each one being different.

How this relates to David’s foolish census effort was that he was after the total NUMBERS of people equivalent to what you might see on an accounting balance sheet RATHER than directly recognizing the EQUAL, BUT YET distinct and unique value of each of his subjects that the Lord put him in charge of! Whenever the census was done in exactly the way prescribed in the Torah, the count was made with the COINS used in the temple RATHER than a direct head count of the people themselves so as to not demean or overvalue the worth of one person to another within the nation of Israel.

But I will say in his defense that King David did at least one GOOD thing in the situation he was in--that (as was later written in one of the Psalms) in essence, he “sowed in tears” to the Lord by refusing to put an Isaac on the altar that didn’t cost him nothing. He put his focus on making things right with the Lord and others around him and working to be a blessing to others in the process by turning what could have been a devastating situation to the nation of Israel into a Biblical lesson worthy of our attention even in these trying times we face now. (P.S.--Rumor has it according to tradition that the very threshing floor David purchased would later be the same site where the Temple would eventually be built.).

) Lastly, there’s the chorus of a current praise song called “Your Grace Is Enough” by Chris Tomlin/Matthew Maher that describes our Lord’s love for us in spite of the stupid and foolish things that we do--and NO...it doesn’t require us to swallow castor oil as part of the cure, neither....

Great is Your faithfulness, oh God
You wrestle with the sinner's heart
You lead us by still waters and to mercy
And nothing can keep us apart

So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise, oh God

Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me

Great is Your love and justice, God
You use the weak to lead the strong
You lead us in the song of Your salvation
And all Your people sing along

So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise, oh God

Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me

Yeah, Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me

So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise, oh God

Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me

Yeah, Your grace is enough
Heaven reaching down to us
Your grace is enough for me

God, I see Your grace is enough
I'm covered in Your love
Your grace is enough for me, for me

No--there isn’t a magic “snake oil” cure that will overcome our foolishness and stupidity...but there is truly an Abba Father who even when He may need to correct us and take us down a notch from our own pride and arrogance still loves us just as we are. And even if we wind up reaching for the honey without smoking the hive first, that same God will more than do His part to make those same bee stings a little less painful than they could be otherwise. Afterwards, we can even then turn around and (as James wrote) realize for ourselves--

[GOD’S WORD TRANSLATION:]

Jas 1:2 My brothers and sisters, be very happy when you are tested in different ways.

Jas 1:3 You know that such testing of your faith produces endurance.

Jas 1:4 Endure until your testing is over. Then you will be mature and complete, and you won't need anything.

Jas 1:5 If any of you needs wisdom to know what you should do, you should ask God, and he will give it to you. God is generous to everyone and doesn't find fault with them.

Jas 1:6 When you ask for something, don't have any doubts. A person who has doubts is like a wave that is blown by the wind and tossed by the sea.

Jas 1:7 A person who has doubts shouldn't expect to receive anything from the Lord.

Jas 1:8 A person who has doubts is thinking about two different things at the same time and can't make up his mind about anything.

Jas 1:9 Humble believers should be proud because being humble makes them important.

Jas 1:10 Rich believers should be proud because being rich should make them humble. Rich people will wither like flowers.

Jas 1:11 The sun rises with its scorching heat and dries up plants. The flowers drop off, and the beauty is gone. The same thing will happen to rich people. While they are busy, they will die.

Jas 1:12 Blessed are those who endure when they are tested. When they pass the test, they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

Jas 1:13 When someone is tempted, he shouldn't say that God is tempting him. God can't be tempted by evil, and God doesn't tempt anyone.

Jas 1:14 Everyone is tempted by his own desires as they lure him away and trap him.

Jas 1:15 Then desire becomes pregnant and gives birth to sin. When sin grows up, it gives birth to death.

Jas 1:16 My dear brothers and sisters, don't be fooled.

Jas 1:17 Every good present and every perfect gift comes from above, from the Father who made the sun, moon, and stars. The Father doesn't change like the shifting shadows produced by the sun and the moon.

Jas 1:18 God decided to give us life through the word of truth to make us his most important creatures.

Just one personal request that I’d like to ask of you--please don’t take any unnecessary U.S. Census Survey counts or antagonize any mountain lions or bears or anything just as risky and stupid...will you? I would like for you to be around a little while longer if possible to read even more of these newsletters, after all....

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