When the prophet Gad advised King David to purchase Araunah's threshing floor and build there an altar to God to stay a plague, Araunah wished to make David a present of the threshing floor and of everything needed for the sacrifice. But David's thoughtful reply was that he would buy it all at a price; he would not offer unto God that which cost him nothing.See II Sam. 24:24;
King David had numbered his people contrary to divine direction, and the plague had followed. Then he must have realized that his nation's strength and well-being did not depend on its numbers, or manpower, but on his and his people's obedience to God. When David saw his error, he prayed, "O Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly." v. 10; Sacrificing the best that one had was the Israelites' means of showing faith in and gratitude to God. But David was not willing merely to go through the motions of a devotional sacrifice and let another bear the cost. The Interpreter's Bible comments on David's insistence on paying the cost (see II Sam. 24:24), "There is probably no finer text in Scripture on the theme of stewardship." The Interpreter's Bible, Vol. 2, p. 1175;
In our stewardship of the truth David glimpsed and Christ Jesus taught, the question is not, How many members does my church have? but, Is God being obeyed? Are His qualities being abundantly expressed? How can I increase my own expression of Christian character?
