Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

We finished our 11th book of the Bible today and we're 40% of the way through our

reading plan. Can you believe it? It feels like just yesterday we were in the

wilderness and here we are today buying a threshing floor in the promised land.

This is one of my favorite days in all of scripture. I know I say that a lot but I really love this one and I can't wait to tell you why.

In the two accounts of David's census today,

you probably noticed an interesting discrepancy.

Second Samuel says God inside a David to take the census.

And First Chronicle says Satan inside a David to take the census. And First Chronicle says Satan

incited David to take the census. And this is why it's important to read

both accounts so we can compare and contrast. So which is it?

Don't resist this tension.

It's there for a reason.

This may actually be the perfect scriptural example of how evil works within God's plan.

Just like with Job's story, here we have an enemy of God and his people

who wants to perpetrate evil against them and God allows it. By God allowing it, it still falls under his sovereignty and is still used for our good and his purposes.

In general, taking a census isn't bad.

God commanded it several times, as we've read about at length, but this

time David is doing it of his own volition, not at God's command. Joab knows

it's a bad idea, which is why he tries to dissuade David.

But even though David has taken Joe Ab's counsel before, he doesn't listen this time.

He does what he wants.

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