The devil is aware of what damage we may incur to ourselves and God’s agenda if we go contrary to God’s will. That is why his chief strategy is to instigate or inspire people to do things without God’s warrant. A test case is David’s numbering of the people. In 1
Chronicles 21:1 the Bible says, “Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel”. That exercise collided David with God, leading to the death of seventy thousand Israelites. The livestocks were not spared either. Any course of action inspired by self or Satan can never produce a constructive end.

“We must not succumb to self or Satan in what we allow.”

Someone may like to ask, “How could merely numbering people have such a damning consequence?” It is all the more concerning because there were previous accounts of where the children of Israel were numbered and no such calamity resulted. A whole book in the Bible focused solely on censuses – the book of Numbers. What was different in David’s case? Someone offered an insight into this. He said the numbering was done by David to massage his ego; he ended up not just counting people but counting on them. It was this shift in confidence and strength that made it a grave sin. Besides, he acted without God’s instruction and contrary to the advice of his general. It seemed good to David until the step began to take a heavy toll on the land. Here is the lesson: we must not succumb to self or Satan in what we allow. Like Jesus, we should let the Spirit be the Chief Driver of our lives.