Good Pride - Bad Pride

II Samuel 23-24

Chapter 23 starts with a psalm about how God is the one who blessed David. David begins by telling that God spoke through him. He states this multiple ways, each time describing a different attribute of God. Then David tells that in order for a man to be a good ruler, he must be led by God. If he allows God to let him, he will be a blessing to the people he rules over. David speaks of the covenant that God made with him, and that the worthless men (sons of Belial) will be cast away like thorns and burned in a fire.

From the psalm, the writer then tells about David's mighty men. These are like the Special Forces of David's army. These guys did some amazing things. One story that stands out is how Adino, Eleazar, and Shammah heard David say that he really wanted a drink of water from the well in Bethlehem. The city of Bethlehem was under Philistine control at that time. The men broke through the ranks of the Philistines, got the water, and escaped back to David. When David learned what they had done, he poured the water out on the ground as a drink offering to God. This seems disrespectful to us, but for them, there was no greater honor than for something they had acquired being offered as a offering to God. David said that they had risked their lives for this and he could not drink it. He could only give such a gift to God.

In chapter 23, David's heart is good. He reverences God and is proud of his mighty men. Neither case causes David to elevate himself in pride. He honors God and honors those who serve him. Pride is not always a bad thing, but we are about to read of an example of bad pride.

In chapter 24, the last chapter of II Samuel, David allows the wrong kind of pride to creep in. He decides to do a census and find out how many people he rules over. Joab warns him that this is a bad idea, but David persists. Joab does as his king commands. The text tells us that just as soon as the census was over, David realized that Joab was correct and this was a mistake. Not long after that, the prophet Gad comes to David and tells him that he has three choices in judgment for his sins. The choices are: 1.) Seven years of famine, 2.) He can run from his enemies for 3 months, or 3.) three days of pestilence. David chooses three days of pestilence. As a result, 70,000 men died in Israel. The text tells us that David offered a sacrifice to atone for his sins and the pestilence stopped.

As we saw before in David's life, sin has consequences. This is true in the lives of believers (like David) as well. Consider these two verses:

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Proverbs 3:12 For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

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Yes, both of these verses talk about correcting, chastening, and scourging (beating), but do you see the other part of the verses? Whom the Lord LOVES, delights in, and receives. When believers are punished for their sins, it is because God loves us. He want to correct us so that we stop doing things that hurt us and our relationship with Him. Sometimes I tell my students, "If I stop getting onto you, it is because I have given up on you." They will ask me, "Have you ever given up on a student?" and I answer "Not yet." God corrects us because he has not given up on us. He is still trying to make us into who he intended us to be. Who he intends for us to be is far better than our on plans.

David messed up time and time again, and yet, God is still correcting him. That is what makes David such a great man in the Bible. He messed up but turned to God. He did not dig his heels in and resist God. That is how we should be. I have dug my heels in and all that does is result in me getting hurt worse; sometimes literally hurt worse. Instead, I should be like David and run to God and ask for his forgiveness. I should stop being so proud that I think I know better than an all knowing, all powerful, all loving God!