Falling Into the Hands of God

SCRIPTURE: David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.” 2 Samuel 24:14 NIV

THOUGHT: God actually gives David three choices for the sin of relying on the statistics of a census rather than God. David can choose between three years of famine, three months of fleeing from his enemies, or three days of plague. David’s response is, “let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great.”

The thought for today is that even when we sin and grieve God, as David did in this story (which cost the lives of 70,000 people due to the plague that came upon them), to fall into the hands of a merciful God is still better than to fall into the hands of humans. And if you read the whole story, you’ll see that God relented from striking the entire nation because he sees the suffering and also hears the confession of David, who takes full responsibility for his sin: “I have sinned; I, the shepherd, have done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall on me and my family.” But instead, God is merciful: “the Lord answered his prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.”

PRAYER: Thank you God that you named yourself “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin (Exodus 34:6-7).” And thank you that you continue to live into your names. May we always fall into your hands, even if it is because of our sin.

Dear Reader,
I’m glad you’re along and I pray you will be blessed, challenged, and encouraged in your faith by something you read here.

There are archives by topic below – now more than 1000 of these daily meditations to browse.

ABOUT ME:
Blogger Amy Clemens is the author of Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall. In it she explores childhood sexual abuse and how it impacted her faith (or lack thereof) for four decades. You’ll find not only her story, but better yet, the Big Story of God.

Check out Walking When You’d Rather Fly, and learn more about the book and Amy’s other ministries. You will also find her devotional work at Words of Hope.

FREE TO YOU:
If you’d like to be notified of this blog each weekday, please look for the little blue “follow” button below (just above the topical search), and welcome!