When we buy something we must count the cost otherwise we will run out of money in a short time. Sometimes we need to count the cost for a needed company expenditure. The company will pay the final bill but we must account for it on their ledger. In my work with Piedmont Airlines I was given the task of opening a new maintenance shop. I was able to requisition tools and supplies almost without regard to cost. One day, though, I tried to requisition a very expensive piece of machinery to maintain certain aircraft parts. I was turned down because the company didn't want to spend that much money. They said "we will send the parts out for that particular process, if we need to." I hoped they would do all their maintenance in house but they just wanted to do the maintenance in house if it was within a certain cost range. Somewhat to my dismay, they were counting the cost. We need to count the cost in all things especially in spiritual matters.
  Prior to the passage we read, king David wanted to number the people of Israel for military reasons. He wanted to know how many soldiers he had. He didn't need to number the people because God was working for him and the nation Israel. His army general told him so, cautioning him not to number the people. He numbered them anyway. II Samuel Says that God's anger with Israel incited David to number them. I Chron. 21 says that Satan stood up against David and incited him to number the people. Either way God was somehow involved but was displeased with his numbering of the people and told him through the prophet Gad. David didn't start counting the cost of numbering the people until after he numbered them. God through the prophet told David to choose what kind of punishment he would receive. I'm sure if we had to choose we would have made a foolish choice but David chose wisely.
He chose to have the Lord discipline him directly. If he chose discipline through man he may have suffered even more than he did.
  Actually the nation suffered for David's sin. It is evident that the people suffer for what the leaders do? It could be leaders of a nation or a city that cause their people problems. Leaders in the local congregation can make or break a congregation both spiritually and numerically. Leaders almost always make the decisions that directly affect the people. That means as leaders we need to be careful in our decision-making. Let me add before we get too far away that the leaders don't always make the problems but are often left to correct problems made by others. People need to be careful whom they follow, if they have a choice. We are confident you have made the right choice here.
    Here in our text David has made a decision that jeopardizes thousands of people under his care. He sought God's forgiveness for numbering the people but God's discipline dealt with him through the people. God was actually being patient with David in coming to Him to repent of his sin and make restitution. God being righteous honored His own word though and acted against David's sin. As the plague progressed David made his plan to make restitution. David made a decision and God accepted his decision. David acted on his decision to allow God to do the disciplining directly. God followed through with the plan as He promised. David became sorry for causing the nation so much trouble and