This week we come to an admittedly weird passage. David takes a census. It's not entirely clear why that is wrong... but it is. David later realizes his sin and confesses it. Then God gives him a multiple choice of terrifying consequences? Talk about a "pick your poison" moment! But why would God do that? It seems almost sadistic to us. Yet David clearly reads it as a gift of grace. How can events that we normally read as evidence of God's untrustworthiness in our lives lead David to trust God all the more? Let's talk about how David's senseless census reveals "Wrath Wrapped in Mercy" (2 Samuel 24:1-19).
