David and the seer Gad: Let me fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into human hands. 1 Chronicles 21:13

The First Book of Chronicles tells a story that shows how God punishes maneuvers or strategies of concealment. And this is so because concealment is the previous or simultaneous step to a sin. And the story begins by telling how Satan, the accusing angel, tempted David: "Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel" 1 Chronicles 21:1. And the Bible says that David ordered the census to be taken without consulting God, ignoring the warning that all of Israel was God's property. The Bible says that this fact displeased God, not so much the order itself, but the fact of having left him aside.
And what King David did is not something strange in modern society, how many times, men think plans to make money or make contact with other people without taking into account that it is the eternal and divine providence of the Lord that determines the course of things. Making selfish plans without taking into account God's judgment on one's actions is a sure path to failure, and this is what happened to King David. The Bible always teaches the importance of not trusting in one's own cleverness but in the wisdom of God, because as the Book of Proverbs explains: "Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and turn away from evil" Proverbs 3:7.
The Bible continues its story and says that God communicated with David through the seer Gad, a friend of the King. And so David repented of his fault and said: "I have sinned greatly by doing this. Now, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing" 1 Chronicles 21:8.
And Gad told David that God proposed three possible punishments to David and that the King had to choose, three years of famine, three defeats by his enemies, or three days in which the plague would ravage the country. And David answered: "Let me fall into the hands of the LORD, for his mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into human hands" 1 Chronicles 21:13. The Bible concludes the story by stating that a plague devastated Israel and that David ultimately atoned for his sin by building an altar in honor of the Lord where God ordered the King.

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