David committed a great sin when he took a census of the Israelites because he was making the assertion that his confidence was in the size of his army and not in the size of his God. From God's perspective, the size of David's army didn't really matter. Remember the story of Gideon and how God used a small number of people to defeat the Midianites? The victory had nothing to do with the number of people and everything to do with God's willingness to bring victory. The same is true for us. In our culture, it's so easy to place our confidence in our material possessions, our money, our retirement plans, and anything else that makes us think we'll be okay if a crisis comes. Nothing could be more dishonoring to the Lord. The question is, will He or won't He take care of your needs? I'm not suggesting that we be foolish and simply squander what we have. However, God makes it clear that He wants us to trust in Him for our provisions rather than in ourselves and our own abilities to provide for what we want. Self-confidence is not a biblical character trait. God-confidence is.
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