Best Practice

I Chronicles 21:24
"Then King David said to Ornan, 'No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing.' 25 So David gave Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place. 26 And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the Lord; and He answered him from heaven by fire on the altar of burnt offering."

Precious Father,

I want to live for you with holiness and obedience. But I recognize that there are many snares set for me. Snares of neglect, pride, and ambition would distract and deter me from fidelity to you. Self would assert itself in me and seize me in a trap of my own crafting. 

King David dealt with such a snare. God blessed David with an expansive kingdom. Enemies bowed at his feet in surrender. David established the capital city of the Hebrews, Jerusalem. He relocated the tabernacle to Jerusalem. He build a personal home there. And he had ambition to build a temple as a permanent house of worship to the Lord. God limited David's temple work to site preparation and building materials. The job of building the temple would fall to Solomon. 

At the height of his career and dominance, David succumbed to Satan's temptation to count the people in a census. A census was a common royal practice. The census established the tax base and the military conscription rates for a king. God was displeased that David resorted to such secular methods to rule God's Covenant people. The "best practices" of the surrounding nations were not approved by God for His Covenant people. Seventy-thousand Hebrew citizens died by plague. The plague stayed when David offered sacrifice to God. He insisted on paying full price for Ornan's threshing floor where he built an altar and made burnt offering. God answered David's prayer with fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice. 

The watchword over my soul is "Be careful." You are holy. You are love. You are a jealous God. I would not grieve you. Place a guard over my heart. Refine my ambitions by Your Holy Spirit. Fill me with Your perfect love. Protect and defend me as Your own. Preserve me from exercising carnal methods I deem as "best practices," but You determine as fleshly. I must exercise great care to live in step with You. 

You are my Lord and my God. I trust You. I love You. By Your grace and strength, I will serve You.

Thank You, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Amen.