2 Samuel 24:14- David said to God, “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.”
Some of God’s people have a wrong opinion about the nature of God. They think that God does not love them instead always punishes them. So they neither love Him nor seek Him. Thus, they miss a numerous good things from Him. Man cannot judge God’s nature through his feelings and emotions because only Bible reveals the truth about God’s nature.
King David whom God called a man after His own heart once removed census in Israel and counted the number of fighting men. This greatly annoyed God; as a man who always trusted God for his strength had now relied on the flesh for his victory over the enemies. God asked King David to select any one out of the three punishments through Prophet Gad which God was about to send. David chose to be punished by God rather than man because he knew the heart of God.
Since David was a man of prayer and had an intimate relationship with God he had the revelation knowledge about God’s heart. He knew that man is man and God is God. Man’s heart is not at rest until he takes revenge against his enemies but God cannot do that because He is kind, loving and merciful in nature. Therefore, He withholds punishment and forgives His people by giving them many opportunities to repent.
According to the option David chose, God sent plague on Israel and an angel to destroy them. When God saw the people dying, He was grieved and moved with compassion so before the punishment period could get over He commanded the angel to withdraw the punishment.
What a great God we have!!!
Love and seek Him whole heartedly and then your life will be completely satisfied in Him. On Mount Sinai God revealed His nature to Moses and told him to convey the good news to us.
(Read: Exodus 34:4-6)