The word of the LORD had come to Gad the prophet, David’s seer: “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’”
So, Gad went to David and said to him, “Shall there come upon you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”
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 the hands of men.” (2 Samuel 24:11–14, NIV 1984).
My Musings – How well do you trust God? As much as David? The reality is sin has its consequences. What those consequences will be are ultimately up to God, although He may use the “hands of men” to administer them. David sinned, he knew it, and he repented. As such, while he was forgiven, and did not expect to escape consequences, he knew that justice would be tempered with mercy.
My Advice – A time is coming when justice without mercy will come upon those who have rejected Christ. The offer of grace will expire. All “that have never passed under a great change of heart, by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon [their] souls…that were never born again and made new creatures…are in the hands of an angry God.” (Jonathan Edwards, Enfield, Connecticut, July 8, 1741).
The Brew Is A Musing 