Faith and facts

Today: 1 Chronicles 18-21

When I was a baby, my Dad was diagnosed with lymphoma (cancer of the lymph nodes). Dad and Mom were in their mid-twenties. The doctor conducted tests and had scientific results showing that cancer was present. But my parents had one thing he didn't have: Faith that God could heal Dad. They were new Christians and after hearing the results (and maybe a few tears), Dad said to the doctor, "I believe God can heal me."

The doctor probably thought those words were very naive, tragically cute hope spoken by a young guy with a young family and passionate faith. But before his first chemotherapy treatment, Dad started to feel better. The doctor conducted more tests. And the cancer that had been clearly present before...was gone.

The doctor was astounded. He even wrote my parents a letter (that's now sitting framed on their dresser) giving Dad a clean bill of health and confirming the inexplicable truth. And for the record, it's over 25 years later and Dad has not had a recurrence of cancer. At all.

I shared this story because I have been recently reminded that faith and facts are not always aligned. Sometimes, facts confirm a faith that already exists. At other times, facts give us faith. And in this case (like many others), faith exists despite the facts.

Today's passage had a brief story that illustrated this concept. Take a look:

Now Satan entered the scene

and seduced David

into taking a census of Israel.

David gave orders to Joab and the army officers under him,

"Canvass all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba,

and get a count of the population.

I want to know the number."
Joab resisted: "May God multiply his people by hundreds!

Don't they all belong to my master the king?

But why on earth would you do a thing like this—

why risk getting Israel into trouble with God?"
But David wouldn't take no for an answer, so Joab went off and did it...

And God, offended by the whole thing, punished Israel.
Then David prayed,

"I have sinned badly in what I have just done,

substituting statistics for trust;

forgive my sin—I've been really stupid."

What's strange about this passage is the fact that it doesn't tell us why David wanted to take a census (other than the fact that Satan prompted the idea). Maybe he was getting a little insecure about the size of his army. Maybe David was getting a little greedy and wanted to collect more money from all of the people. I don't know his rationale...but I'm guessing by the words and context here that David put his faith in facts versus trusting God to take care of him and his kingdom.

If David got hung up on facts instead of trusting God, I know the same thing can (and does) happen to us. But like David, I think it's important for us to recognize when we mess up, ask God for forgiveness and try to move on. Trust isn't trust if it's dependent on statistics. And faith that relies solely on facts isn't faith at all.

Tomorrow: 1 Chronicles 22-24