Which Punishment Would You Choose?

719 Today's Prime Time Devo comes from 2Sa 24:12,13 "Go and tell David, 'Thus says the LORD: "I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you."'" 13 So Gad came to David and told him; and he said to him, "Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or shall you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I should take back to Him who sent me." (2 Sam 24:12,13) David's sin, in taking the census, has been affirmed by Gad, a prophet of God, and now the loving heavenly Father feels it is necessary to discipline David for his sin. It is interesting that this time, the Father gives His child, David, a choice in the matter. It is much like an earthly father giving his child a choice of punishment for misbehaving. “You can be grounded for a week, or you can lose your social media privileges, or you can be spanked.” Of course, David's options were much more serious than the ordinary discipline of our children. Famine, defeat in war, or disease. People are going to die as a result of this punishment. The first thing I notice about these choices is the duration of each. If David chooses famine for his punishment, it will last for years. If he chooses war, it will last for months, and if he chooses pestilence, it will last for just three days. I don't know about you, but I am all about the short duration. It's like when I go swimming in Lake Michigan. I don't make it a long drawn out process of entering the water, I just dive right in and get it over with. Even as a youngster, I always preferred spankings over the long drawn out “groundings.” They were painful, but at least they were short. But you know what? Maybe a better response would be to fire a question back at God? “Father, which one would be the best one to teach me the lesson I need to learn?” And I think I know the answer. It would be, “Any of the above.” Because God's discipline, no matter what it may be is always grounded in His perfect love. Pr 3:12 says, “For whom the LORD loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights.”