Can You Hear Me, Now?

[S] 2 Samuel 24:3,14 --
3  But Joab said to the king, "Now may the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?" 14 Then David said to Gad, "I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of the Lord for His mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man."

[O] David responds two different ways to two different counsels he receives from Joab and Gad.  At first, Joab's insightful and wise counsel was overruled by David which leads to God's anger against Israelites to whcih David pays his price for his own sin.  After his repentence, the counsel of Gad was received with humility and submission before God.  When his eyes were blinded by his own greed and pride of counting how many people was under him he was unable to hear the counselor's wisdom and care for him but when his heart was aligned back to God's own heart he was quick to hear God's voice and follow His instructions.

[A] In order to see how our ministry is doing, I am quick to see the headcount and offering amount from previous Sunday.  While this is one of the good metrics to examine, I need to be cautious not to look at it as a way of measuring the success (or not) of our ministry by these numbers.  God is much bigger than the numbers, and I need to trust that for His ministry to flourish.  Additionally, when my focus is on wrong things I will miss all the wise counsels coming from those who care for me.

[P] Dear Father, please keep my mind sharp in order not to fall into the traps of giving credit to what I or we did rather than staying low on my knees because I have not and cannot do anything to please You.  This is why Jesus had to come.  May Your name be the banner over me.  In Jesus' name.  Amen.