The Lord said to Gad, David’s seer, “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to
carry out against you.’”
So Gad went to David and said
to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Take your choice: three years of famine, three months of being swept away before
your enemies, with their swords overtaking you, or three days of the sword of
the Lord—days of
plague in the land, with the angel of the Lord ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should
answer the one who sent me.” 1 Chronicles 21:9-12
This
is kind of like the parental trick of telling the child to go pick out a stick
to spank him with or determining which punishment the child would prefer
(timeout, take away electronics or no allowance).
When
the child receives the punishment, he realizes he “asked for it.” David realized the severity of his sin because
he had to choose the punishment.
David’s sin, though it seemed personal at the time, really effected
thousands of people. He needed to know
that.
Our
sin does not only affects us, but those around us. The more responsibility we have the more who
are hurt by our sin.