The Sacred Road contains many stories of our Creator and our Savior that help us with our walk today. One story is found in 1 Chronicles chapter 21.  It is a story about David, King of the Israelites, who was one whom God said was a ‘man after His own heart’.  It was a time of war with many battles fought and won by David and his men.

But in the midst of victories, David could still be tempted.  He called in one of his officers, Joab, and commanded him to go out and take a census of Israel so he would know the population.  Joab resisted and reminded David that Creator would not be pleased with this and that all of Israel could suffer the consequence.  But David insisted.  Joab went out and took the census.  Creator was greatly offended and decided to punish all of Israel.

1 Chron 21:8 Then David prayed, "I have sinned badly in what I have just done, substituting statistics for trust; forgive my sin — I've been really stupid."

(Sometimes, we think of sin as things like murder, stealing— really bad things that some people do.  But sin can also be simple issues of trust we deal with every day.) Creator answered David’s prayer through his pastor, Gad. 

1 Chron 21:11-12 Gad delivered the message to David: "Do you want three years of famine, three months of running from your enemies while they chase you down, or three days of the sword of GOD — an epidemic unleashed on the country by an angel of GOD? Think it over and make up your mind. What shall I tell the One who sent me?"

David said they were all terrible, but that he would rather be punished by Creator, whose mercy is great, than by the hands of his enemies.  Creator unleashed an epidemic and 70,000 Israelites died.  The angel of Creator approached the place where David was, at Aranauh’s threshing floor.

Creator had compassion and told the angel to stop.  David asked Creator to put the blame on him and him alone—not all of Israel.  David asked Aranauh for a place on his threshing floor to build an altar and asked Aranauh to charge him full market price for the items he used for the sacrifice.  Aranauh told David to just take them—anything David needed he could freely have.

1 Chron 21:24 David replied to Araunah, "No. I'm buying it from you, and at the full market price. I'm not going to offer GOD sacrifices that are no sacrifice."

David built an altar there, made offerings to Creator and called out to Him.  Creator told the angel to put his sword away, sparing Israel.

1 Chron 21:28 And that's the story of what happened when David saw that GOD answered him on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite at the time he offered the sacrifice.

Creator taught us something similar when He sent His Son, Jesus, to save us.  When we stray from His ways, there are consequences.  When Israel was facing the consequence of death for participating, at David’s command, in trusting in numbers more than in Creator to save them from the battles, David asked that all the blame and all the sin be on him and not on the people.  And then David paid the price to give a sacrifice to Creator to make up for that sin.

Today, we can trust that Creator paid the price to give a once-and-for-all sacrifice to make up for our sins—no matter how big or how small.  The blame and the consequences that should be ours, are all on Jesus. We are forgiven and we live. And this is the story of what happened when Creator answered us at the time HE offered THE sacrifice.

All Scripture references are from The MESSAGE Bible.