Leaning On Your Own Strength

II Samuel 24.1-10

As we shared last week David knew the victories he experienced came from the LORD. He wrote Psalm 124 with this thought in mind.

Psalm 124:1-5 If the Lord had not been on our side—let Israel say— if the Lord had not been on our side when people attacked us, they would have swallowed us alive when their anger flared against us; the flood would have engulfed us,the torrent would have swept over us, the raging waters would have swept us away.

He knew that if the LORD had not been on their side, there would be no more Israel. God is a Promise Keeper. He was keeping His promise made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

David used the pictures from nature's floods in Psalm 124 to describe the disaster that would have happened if the LORD had not been on their side in battle. He taught it to Israel.

Yet we see David leaning on his own understanding and therefore his own strength here. Here the man after God's own heart has a lapse of faith, yielding to the temptation to lean on his own understanding. When a person God has chosen makes a bad decision it has ramifications that are always larger than one can imagine:
*Abraham's decision to father a child with Hagar
*Joseph's brothers selling him as a slave
*David deciding to number the troops

David failed to keep his own words of Psalm 124

1. Numbers Do Not Tell The Whole Story. vs.1-3

God has resources we know nothing about. He knew that! Goliath...
On the run from Saul, he wrote how it was the LORD Who kept him safe.

David's desire to number the troops was a move away from God's help, a turning from depending totally on the LORD, a shifting of his confidence in God's ability to protect and deliver them to having confidence in the flesh.
Paul wrote to the Philippians about this.
Philippians 3:3-7 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reasons for such confidence.If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless. But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ.

Do we look at our resources as that- loss for the sake of Christ. David faced Goliath in the power of God. He refused the armor and took his sling. He depended upon God.

Leaning on our own strength as a believer is like David is Saul's armor. It does fit, it encumbers us and makes it hard to walk. Yet it is a temptation. As a young shepherd boy David refused it, now as the king, and he had so many instances of God helping him to remind him, he still caves in and depends upon man's strength.

Joab and his commanders advised against it. Joab's question in verse 3.


Why would he want to do such a thing?
1- Curiosity
2-Laspe of Faith
3-Worry about the Future

1 Chronicles 21:1 Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.

The temptation to prepare for battle if the we have to it alone is ridiculous.
David was going against his own words, "the battle is the Lord’s."

We are in a spiritual battle today and the battle belongs to the LORD. We cannot fight the spiritual battle in our strength. If we try we will be defeated an depressed an discouraged.


2. Ignoring Good Sound Advice is Pure Foolishness! v.4

David overruled good advice from those who had seen the power of God firsthand.

To not take advice is a form of pride. "I know better."

When pride comes in and it is insidious, any good counsel is rejected, often not even allowed a hearing. Maintain a teachable spirit always. Some of us because of our background or the make up of chemicals in our brain have to fight against this need to be right (even when we are wrong). A teachable spirit must be developed and maintained. The strong willed and the gullible must develop it.

Joab had been a good commander, a faithful friend, a loyal subject to David. His question (v.3) is worthy of thought and an honest answer. David gave neither. He had this in his mind and we really don't know what caused it but we need to take the warning here.

Beware after God has been faithful to you your whole life that you do not doubt on Him on the very areas He has proven Himself faithful before. Be careful that you always feed your faith the Word of God.

It is possible that David, after the LORD had blessed him so abundantly with military success that he neglected the prescribed reading of Deuteronomy 17.14-20 and the rest of the law. It would not be the first time this happened to a child of God. Spiritual breakdown occurs when there is a lapse of feeding the spirit... beware of substituting service to the LORD for this.
We must continue to press in. Retirement is in heaven!


3. Too often we don't realize the wrong until we have done it and guilt kicks in.
- vs. 8-10

But before we do the wrong God is faithful in warning us. He spoke through Joab.

He speaks through His Word.
He speaks through people.
He speaks through His Spirit to our spirits.

The census was completed.

Way more than originally came into the land under Joshua.
The difference between Numbers and numbering under David was this. In Numbers God gave the command. Here David is doing it. It was for different motives.

The tendency to trust in numbers rather than God. Finances... age are all measured in numbers.

Why do we concern ourselves with things God is taking care of?
So many things have grieved the LORD because we began to count or take stock.

Perhaps much of failure in the past has come through numbering our own capabilities. How much do we count on the power of God? Today everything is numbered, projected and figured out leaving no room for God to move... and then we wonder when He doesn't!

We are given spiritual armor for this battle we are in and with it we will win! Don't rely on your own strength, your own resources, your own abilities. Rely and trust in God.

Remembering the lessons of the past, Relying on the LORD in the present to take care of the anxieties of the future. Make this the theme of your life.

Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Proverbs 3.5-6