Having given himself and all of Israel into the hand of God, they suffer pestilence and death for 3 days; 70,000 are lost and death is at Jerusalem’s door. David pleads again to God asking for himself and his family to be afflicted instead of God’s people. When God stops the death angel and through Gad commands an altar be built, David would accept nothing free but pays the full price for Araunah’s threshing floor. We are often tempted to try to escape bad situations with as little cost as possible. It might be a financial problem or we might try to sugar coat a sin to get out of some embarrassment; but David’s example is to own up and pay in full. 

This is where the beauty comes from the ashes. The purchased land becomes the site where Solomon builds the temple. The writer of 2 Chron. 3:1 refers to the same location as Mount Moriah implying that near this site is where Abraham started to offer up Isaac. So, this site of death, when God steps in, becomes a site of worship, not only for David and possibly Abraham but for generations of Israelites. From the time of Solomon’s dedication prayer till just before they were carried away by king Nebuchadnezzar, the Glory of the Lord lived there. We are all born in sin and are spiritually dead; but when God comes into our heart it is changed from a site of death to a holy place of worship where the Spirit of the most high God dwells. 

God’s blessings on your day!