God's anger was kindled against Israel, because of Israel's forsaking of God. Therefore, God moved Israel's king to number the people of Israel, which precipitated God's judgment upon the nation, a nation that had become self-reliant and proud, taking credit itself where it should have given glory to God. As a result, Israel's ascendency among the nations was halted, and it was reduced down to nothing but choices between evils. The lesser evil chosen proved to be most destructive. Seventy thousand people died, proving that there is no such thing as lesser evils, better evils, harmless evils, or right choices among evils. The story has a happy ending, however, thanks to the refusal of Israel's king to offer a costless sacrifice to God in intervention for the people. As soon as God was offered the people's costly sacrifice, He showed mercy to Israel, removed the pestilence from the land, and spared the people.
The story of 2 Samuel chapter 24 is a scriptural and ancient snapshot of the present-day predicament of our God-forsaking country. We have angered God, because of our forsaking of Christ. As a result, God is using the hardheartedness of our political leaders to lead us to believe that we are self-reliant and no longer in need of God. In addition, God is using our political leaders to lead us to take the credit for America's ascendancy in the world rather than to give God the glory for it. As a result of our pride and arrogance, God's judgment has fallen upon our nation and our ascendency in the world has been halted. We've been reduced down to nothing more than choices between evils―Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. No matter which we choose, the inevitable result will be our destruction. Our only hope is that God will be merciful to us and spare us, in spite of the multitude of our transgressions against Him. Yet, what hope is there of God's mercy and a happy ending to our story when our country's political leaders and populace are nothing like Israel's ancient King David, who refused to offer to God a costless sacrifice?
Our present-day political leaders offer to God nothing more than lip service. Although most profess to be Christians, there is no evidence of their commitment to Christ in their private lives, public lives, or political policies and positions. When it comes to the American people, most no longer worship or acknowledge Christ at at all. And the few that do, for the most part, insist that their Christian confession involves no inconvenience to themselves and that their worship of Christ come with a cheap price tag, or better still, at no cost to themselves whatsoever. In such a God-forsaken land, where both the people and their political representatives strut around in defiance of God and insist upon Him accepting from them their costless sacrifices and worthless worship, what hope is there of an offended and infuriated God showing us mercy and sparing our country? Really?