Suffering, Fear and Chaos

Synopsis     2Sam 24:15-21     2/13/2019 

Gad had conveyed a grave choice from the Lord. Because of the sin of counting the people, David had to choose between three years of famine, three months of enemy pursuit or three days of plague. And David chose the plague. 

So the plague began. And in the end, it killed seventy thousand people. But God repented of the plague before the three days were actually up. He ordered the plague angel to cease. And the angel stopped in a particular location outside of Jerusalem.  The place was a threshing floor.

So, David went to the threshing floor with the intention of building an altar there, in accordance with Gad’s word from the Lord.  

The Threshing Floor of Araunah 

David knew difficulty throughout his life. And despite his own moral failures – despite his own sins, David grew through his experiences.  

So, Araunah’s threshing floor represented both aspects of growth. It represented God’s faithfulness in a storm of chaos. And, it represented David’s acknowledgement of God’s mercy and purpose in an altar.

And so, this episode was simultaneously an effective moment of grace and a memorializing of God’s same grace. These are elements of a sacramentel moment.

Suffering, Fear and Chaos 

This is the stuff of growth. My faith grows in suffering, fear and chaos.

So, embracing these is embracing my own formation. But avoiding them has the opposite effect.

“Consider it all joy, my brothers, when you encounter various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. And let perseverance be perfect, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4