Repentance And Restoration - Part 2

Repentance and restoration – part two.  Saul was not the only leader who made wrong decisions that came at a great cost.  David did as well.  David performed a military census, despite being warned.  Afterwards, David’s conscience troubled him and he realized that he had sinned against the Lord in performing it (2 Samuel 24:10).  David prays and asks God to take away the guilt of the sin (v.10).  God does this by offering David three choices:  three years of famine, flee from enemies for three months, or have a plague in the land for three days (v.13).  David chooses to have the fate of he and all the people to rest in the hands of the Lord, so he went with the plague, and seventy thousand men died.  David saw the angel that was striking the people and he pleaded for the angel to stop for he was the one who had done wrong in performing the census.  David purchases the land there where he encountered the angel, builds an altar, and offers sacrifices to the Lord.  Once David had done that, it says, “Then the Lord was receptive to prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel ended” (v.25).  Again, repentance can come at a great cost, but true repentance leads to restoration.