In First Chronicles, chapter twenty-one, verse eight, David sinned by taking personal pride in God’s using him for great purposes within the kingdom of Israel. By numbering the people, he attempts to exalt himself and Israel and to rely on their national strength. Such boasting inevitably leads to a spirit of self-trust and superiority and life no longer lived in faith and humility. David should remember that all the victories of Israel were by God’s help. The bottom part of the theme verse is where David admits that he was foolish to think he find security on the number of his people instead of depending solely on thy almighty power and sovereign help.
Similarly, believers should never boast in their own greatness” within God’s kingdom but in their weaknesses, “that the power of God may rest upon them,” as in Second Corinthians twelve, verse nineteen. Today, there are leaders who were servants of God who began to exalt themselves over time in believing they have power to do things when it was God all along using them as a instrument to do his will. Satan was the first to exalt himself until his fall out from heaven, as in Ezekiel chapter twenty-eight and Isaiah fourteen in the Old Testament. God knows the heart of all because He created all things. Therefore, even if we do not say anything but go through the motions, God knows the hearts that have pride and will not tolerate it.
Pastors face the temptation to look at themselves instead of continually acknowledging God and what He is doing through them. For the wrongdoers, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God,” as in Hebrews ten, verse thirty-one. People are better off seeking the Lord first instead of Him seeking us for the ungodly reasons.