2 Samuel 24:10

2 Samuel 24:10 says, And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.  David realized that he had done foolishly by numbering the people of Israel, since God had not told him to do so.  Matthew Henry says David had numbered the people of Israel out of self-pride and because of this it was wrong.  Anytime we count attendance in church for reasons of self-pride, we need to repent for doing so, although I don't believe counting attendance is necessarily wrong.  Verse eleven adds, For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,  When David was up in the morning, God's word came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer and not to David himself.  As followers of Christ, we don't need a seer or anyone else to tell us God's will for our life.  God will speak directly to us.  Verse twelve continues, Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.   God told Gad to go to David and tell him he had three choices as punishment for his sin.  Still, there is really only one choice for anyone to find forgiveness from sin, and that is by putting one's faith in Jesus Christ.  There are no more options.  Verse thirteen states, So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days’ pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.  Gad told David that God gave him three choices for punishment, and two involved all the people of Israel more than they did David himself.  We cannot expect others to bear responsibility for our sins.  Only Jesus Christ can, and we must personally confess our sins and put our faith in Him to claim this forgiveness.  Verse fourteen adds, And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.  David said he didn't know for sure what the best choice was, so let him fall into the hand of God and not the hand of man.  Any of these things would decrease David’s self-pride.  God may at times today have to allow us to be defeated materially in order to decrease our self-pride, but if we have put our faith in Jesus Christ, He will never allow us to be defeated spiritually.  All of these choices were for a limited time period and not forever.  Verse fifteen continues, So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.  God sent a pestilence on the people and seventy thousand men died.  We might think this to be an unfair punishment, but we need to remember that God sees things from an eternal perspective.  Verse sixteen says, And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.  When the angel of the Lord was about to destroy Jerusalem, God said that enough punishment had occurred and stopped him.  We need to understand that one angel carried out God's punishment of David and that the angel was totally obedient to God.  God has already pronounced the death of Jesus Christ on the cross to be enough punishment for the sins of mankind, and if we put our faith in Him, we will never face everlasting punishment of our soul.