Once again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he caused David to harm them by taking a census. “Go and count the people of Israel and Judah,” the LORD told him. So the king said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Take a census of all the tribes of Israel—from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south—so I may know how many people there are.” But Joab replied to the king, “May the LORD your God let you live to see a hundred times as many people as there are now! But why, my lord the king, do you want to do this?” But the king insisted that they take the census, so Joab and the commanders of the army went out to count the people of Israel. First they crossed the Jordan and camped at Aroer, south of the town in the valley, in the direction of Gad. Then they went on to Jazer, then to Gilead in the land of Tahtim-hodshi and to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon. Then they came to the fortress of Tyre, and all the towns of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went south to Judah as far as Beersheba.
2 Samuel 24:1–7 NLT
Before Joab left to carry out David’s order to take a census throughout the land, he left this letter behind for the King:
To My Lord, King David,
As the hour draws near for us to commence the task you have set before us, I find my heart heavy with a burden I must convey. It is not often that I, your servant and commander, find cause to question your decisions, for your wisdom and God’s guidance have always been the pillars upon which our great nation stands. Yet, on the eve of undertaking the census, I shall share my thoughts one last time, in the hope that you might reconsider.
I find myself pondering, “What joy or satisfaction, my lord, do you seek in this census?” Your heart, I have observed, has always found its true delight in the Lord our God. It is He who established your throne. Should our delight, then, not be anchored in His guidance, His provision, His strength? These words arise not from challenge but from deep concern. Should our delight be in the multitude of our army or in the One who commands the stars?
I recall, my king, the times when your delight was solely in the Lord. You even sang, “Delight in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart” [1]. Our victories on the battlefield were never a testament to our prowess but to His providence. Your dependence on God brought us victory, united our people, and made Israel a beacon to nations. The Lord delivered Goliath into your hands and preserved us through countless trials, does He not still govern our fate? Why do you now delight in the prospect of this census? What is it that you seek to measure and for what purpose?
I fear, my king, that in taking the census, we may inadvertently diminish our reliance on the One who truly secures our borders and upholds our nation. It is in God’s hands, not in the numbers, that our true strength lies. I beseech you to reconsider this decision, to seek counsel from the Lord as you have so wisely done in times past. Let our delight be in His statutes and our wants aligned with His will. For it is in His divine providence, not in weapons and warriors, that our kingdom shall flourish.
As I ready myself to carry out your command, it is my prayer that the Lord will guide your heart and renew the joy of your salvation in Him.
In faithful service,
Joab, son of Zeruiah
We are down to the more challenging part. Share with your friends “What does it truly mean to ‘delight in the LORD’? How does this differ from finding delight in the ‘desires of our heart’? How could both come together like what David described?”
[1] David actually wrote that in Psalm 37:4
Delighting in the Lord to me means I am taking active actions to have joy and happiness in Him. I am actively worshiping, reading His word, and engaging in nurturing relationships with His people each day. I believe having genuine joy in worship and in seeking who Christ is is so important because the “being” of being in Christ sets the foundation of our faith and who we are before God. Delighting in the Lord means no doubt in Him but pure joy and trust and comfort knowing that He will be there no matter what. It’s different from delighting in the desire of the heart in that the heart could just be what I, as a human, want and there could be a chance where I neglect Him and who He is/what He’s speaking to me about. This becomes dangerous when we act upon our own thinking and “wisdom” and not from God. However, the reconciliation for these is that we continue to remain in Him and He will remain in us. This way our hearts would be pointed towards Him so that we can hear His speaking clearly.
(from Charles)
What it truly means to delight in the Lord is to delight in His presence and the things that God desires. The problem we have had since the fall is that we delight in things in our heart which oppose what we should be desiring. In effect and like the sermon was saying we violate the first commandment and create an idol which we desire before God. This creates the separation between us and God. Our desires and delight in God can only come together when we recognize what Jesus has done for us. He is the only one that can bridge the separation and transform our hearts such that we will only desire delighting in the Lord.
I think to “delight in the Lord” means to put our full faith in him and being accepting of what he has in store for us. This also comes with finding him in our everyday lives while devoting all we do for him. A great daily reminder is remembering what Christ did for our sins. Joab states that everything they have achieved as a nation is in God’s hands, not their numbers of military and how they must seek out God in this situation. A key phrase that stuck out to me was “Let our delight be in His statutes and our wants aligned with His will. For it is in His divine providence, not in weapons and warriors, that our kingdom shall flourish.”
This differs from finding delight in the “desires of our heart” because it is selfish. Although it is very blunt to say that it is selfish, but we cannot drive our faith through what we want. I think that is it true when Joab said that our wants have to align with his will. This keeps us from becoming greedy people and straying away from the path of righteousness. These two things can coexist together as David described only when our desires become selfless and we put our full faith in the Lord. We should be living for God instead of our desires. I think that once we realize our wants should align with God’s will for us, we can find delight in the Lord.
From Rose
I think to truly delight in the Lord is to find joy, contentment and trusting In Him. It differs in the delight of our own hearts because it is not self seeking but a profound trust and peace that we have when we delight in the Lord. Just as the text says when we delight in the lord, He will give us the desires of own hearts. I guess it would also depend on what we desire but I would gather that if we delight in the Lord and understand His will for our life then our desires would also be in line with His. I believe this goes back to one of our earlier readings on the first or second week of this series and we had talked about this.
I find this passage quite confused. The Lord instructed David to take a census, yet Joab questioned this decision, urging David to seek the Lord’s guidance instead. It’s intriguing that despite God’s initial command, Joab felt compelled to challenge it. Personally, I would value having someone like Joab in my life—someone unafraid to question authority and speak truth when needed, guiding me back if I ever gone wrong. Delighting in the Lord means aligning our desires with His will, even amidst life’s trials and sorrows, as David experienced. It’s a constant challenge for me, as the allure of worldly temptations often clouds my true desires, which should be centered on God. “Let our delight be in His statutes and our wants aligned with His will.
1) Delight in God is a dependence on God’s plan and desire. We will receive His providence and guidance for our life. Then, we will actually find delight.
2) When we find the desire in our heart, we are likely to do what we want first rather than what God wants. We do things for our sake, our desires, not for God’s good value.
3) If we do everything in delight of God, then He will make it become our desires. Later, we will acknowledge that God’s delight even gives us more delight than what we expected. Like He was with David, and he won the battle.
I think delighting in the LORD means aligning our perspectives with God’s, distinct from finding delight in the ‘desires of our heart’ due to our sinful nature. As sinners, God would not be pleased with our own desires, as our prosperity relies solely on His providence. While I’m unsure if this is the correct interpretation, David experienced honest delight in the LORD until he conducted a census. Perhaps he recognized his country’s power, leading to the inception of his desires of the heart. It seems David had two distinct desires, but it’s doubtful that he had them simultaneously.