1 Chronicles 21:13 And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies… There is something very simple and touching in this expression. "The hand of the Lord" is, for the most part, mentioned in Scripture as the emblem of God's protecting, upholding, preserving power. Here it indicates chastisement. How truly submissive and filial was the spirit which was manifested in this petition! Whether God's hand was raised to deliver or to smite, his servant was content - so that it was God's. I. THE LORD SOMETIMES CHASTENS EVEN REPENTING OFFENDERS. Some unthinking persons may wonder why, if the sinner be penitent and the sin forgiven, there should be any necessity for punishment at all. But facts cannot be explained away. The great Lord and Judge of all does Sometimes, as in the instance before us, permit the sinner to endure temporal consequences of sin, although his anger is turned away from the repentant heart. God thus avenges his own Law, upholds his own authority, shows himself a righteous Sovereign and Ruler. II. THERE ARE REASONS FOR MEEKLY SUBMITTING TO DIVINE CHASTISEMENT. An alternative of punishment is not God's usual offer to repenting sinners. There is much to commend in the choice which David made when Gad, at the Lord's command, permitted the king to elect one form of penalty rather than another. David referred the matter wholly into "the band" of a wise and merciful God. There are many reasons why we should thus submit when the Lord chastens. 1. God is the All-merciful. For this reason his people may well be content to "fall into his hand." "Very great are his mercies." He is "merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." His character, his promises, and especially his "unspeakable gift," should encourage us to lay aside all rebellion, murmuring, and fear, and to submit with patience, and "endure chastening." It is, no doubt, in his power to punish with far greater severity than any human enemy is capable of doing. But whilst "the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel," the mercy of God is boundless as his nature. 2. God knows, not only the sin, but the repentance by which it it followed. He reads the heart, and hears the sighs, and marks the tears of every contrite penitent. He sees when a deep impression of the sinfulness of sin has been produced. He knew that though David was a great sinner, he was a sincere, submissive, and lowly penitent. He makes a distinction between the punishment which is a mark of his righteous displeasure with the sin, and that which is needed to bring the offender to a just sense of his ill desert. 3. God tempers his chastisements with Divine consolations and support. He does not desert his children, even in their deserved distresses. He is with them in the furnace. When they are ready to sink beneath their merited sorrows, lo! his everlasting arms are found to be underneath them. 4. God designs, by all his chastening, to secure his people's spiritual good. He afflicts, not for his pleasure, but for our profit. His purpose is that we may "bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness." Men may wreak malicious vengeance; God's discipline is that of a holy and compassionate Father. - T. Parallel Verses KJV: And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man. |
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