What to pray when God makes others suffer for my sin (1 Chron 21.8, 17)

David said to God, “I have sinned greatly in that I have done this thing. But now, I pray you, take away the guilt of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.”

And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave the command to count the people? It is I who have sinned and done very wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Let your hand, I pray, O LORD my God, be against me and against my father’s house; but do not let your people be plagued!”

No matter how successful we are, or how much humility we have—we commit wrongs. Sometimes those wrongs bring consequences; sometimes they bring punishment. Sometimes others suffer as a result of our wrongs. How do we make sense of God’s role in punishment and suffering? How should we respond in prayer?

Background

The Chronicler has portrayed David as perfect. The king is faithful, smart, humble, faithful, and talented. But we know, from reading the version of his life in 1-2 Kings, that he is not without sin.

In the last section, we learned about David’s prayer of praise to God and the promises He made to the king. Following that story, the author recounts some of the great military victories of David. Those stories are not just for mere historical interest, or to demonstrate David’s military prowess. They are about God: He had promised David success and power, and the victories show that God keeps His promises.

After these victories, David makes plans to clear a site for the Temple (even though he will not build it). He also begins to set up the arrangement of the personnel who will tend to the Temple worship, sacrifices, music, upkeep, and so on.

Before he does so, however, he orders his commanders to take a census of all men of military age. His general (Joab) questions the king. He says that it makes no difference how many men there are in Israel because God is with them. But David insists. Joab finds the order so “abhorrent” that he does not count the tribes of Levi or Benjamin.¹

God is outraged at David for this act. But why? How could it be wrong to count those who could help defend the country? It was not against the laws of Israel: the book of Numbers got its name because it counts the people of Israel. God himself told Moses to count the people in Exodus 30. Why was it wrong for David?

Nevertheless, Joab was right. It was not the counting itself that was wrong, but the reason David wanted it done. Though God had brought the victories (and maybe because He had done so), perhaps David had begun to feel pretty invincible. He wanted a number to boast about. He wanted proof in numbers rather than just trusting God’s promises.

The next part of the story may trouble us. God gave David a choice: a famine, a pestilence among the people, or three months of devastation by Israel’s enemies.

David tells the prophet that he would rather fall into the hands of the merciful God than into the hands of Israel’s enemies. Disease spreads through the city. Many die. Even Jerusalem is set for destruction, but God finally stops it.

Meaning

Sometimes, sin does not lie in the act but the motive. In our attitude, not in what we do. God cares less about our actions than he does our attitude. That may sound surprising, but there are other places God makes this clear, too. For example, during the time of the prophet Hosea, the people were performing all the Temple ceremonies and practices correctly but were committing all sorts of wrongs in their lives. God’s message? “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.”² Jesus quotes this passage, emphasizing the same point.³ The prophet Micah has the same message at a different time:

With what shall I come before the Lord

and bow down before the exalted God?

Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,

with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?

Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God.⁴

It is our whole being that God wants, not just our external actions.

When David became aware of his sin, he immediately turned to prayer. The prayer is simple, direct, and has only two elements: a full admission of guilt and a request for forgiveness.

But it is David’s choice of punishment where we might be able to learn the most. Sometimes punishment comes by the natural consequences of our actions. At other times, punishment is necessary because we won’t learn any other way. God holds us to high standards, and he holds his leaders to even higher standards.

Even though we often ignore it, our wrongdoing usually has consequences for other people in our lives—we do not live in a vacuum. For a leader, this is even more true. David had to learn this lesson in a brutal way.

We might find the result offensive. What kind of God gives such a choice, and when David chooses for his people to suffer at the hands of God rather than their enemies, God brings suffering upon them?

A fair question. But why not ask, just as fairly, “what kind of child spits in the face of his mother or father?” Because this is what David did. Sin is no mere mistake. It is not just a trifle. It is not a breaking of the law; it is an affront to the Creator and a betrayal of his creation. It is to disregard our purpose in life and to spit in the face of God.

Terrifying, yes? David is terrified. So once again, he turns to prayer. Once more, he confesses his wrong and takes full responsibility without any defensiveness or sugar-coating. He pleads for God to punish him and his house, and not the innocent people of Israel.

God relents. He directs David to a buy a grain threshing floor owned by a man named Ornan. When the man learns it is for an altar (and eventually the Temple), he wants to donate it! But David insists on paying the full price.

“Paying the full price” is symbolic, of course. David learned his lesson. Sin costs a great deal. It costs God his dignity and rightful place; it costs the wrongdoer his purpose in life; it costs innocent people their peace.

Application

What do we learn from these prayers?

1. God cares about us as whole people, mind, body, attitude, actions, and words. Not just that we ’keep laws.’
2. Therefore, we should take our sins seriously as affronts to God and the created purpose of life. Our prayers of confession and repentance should state the sin with specifics, and we should take full responsibility.
3. Suffering may come, as a consequence or as punishment. But the problem is not with God; it is with us for not honoring life as we should.
4. Even we when do sin, and even if we experience suffering, God offers us grace.

The final point is the crucial one. The consequences of David’s sin were devastating, but the grace of God was overwhelming. David was forgiven, and the threshing floor became the spot for the glorious Temple of God. From sin came good. Out of death came life.

Grace has the final word in this story, just like it can have the final word in our lives of prayer.

1. Joab may have chose to ignore these two because (1) Levi was the tribes from which all the priests belonged and (2) it was the lands of Benjamin where the Temple grounds would be located. ↩
2. Hosea 6.6. ↩
3. Matt 9.13, 12.7. ↩
4. Micah 6.6-8. ↩