With great privilege comes great responsibility. The church, blessed beyond Israel with God's Spirit and a believing heart, must witness that God is God by humbly following His lead. When we submit to God and allow His Spirit to guide us, the fruits of love, joy, peace, and self-control are evident, making a proper witness. However, if we ignore God and follow our own direction, the fruits of hatred, contention, and envy manifest, resulting in a poor witness. At the core of making the right witness is recognizing and seeking God's leadership. If we actively seek God's guidance and submit to it, our belief will be evident in the fruits produced and the faithful witness made. Conversely, if we are self-directed, the results will be confusion, division, and contention. The wicked man, as described in Psalm 10:4, will not seek after God, for God is not in all his thoughts. Such a man may inquire of God, but he will not wholeheartedly seek Him, being intent on bringing his own plans to pass. In contrast, the righteous man seeks after God, with God in all his thoughts. God looks on such a man, one of a poor and contrite spirit, who trembles at His word. Those who truly seek God will be answered positively when they inquire of Him, embodying the phrase "if the Lord wills." This submission to God's will is a major part of the witness He desires us to make, affirming that He is God, and there is no other sovereign.

In the history of Israel, as seen with King David, there emerges a profound lesson about the peril of not seeking God's will. David's decision to number Israel, motivated by a focus on military strength rather than trust in God, reflected a heart turned toward self-reliance and possibly selfish ambition or presumption. This act of conducting a census was not inherently sinful, as the nation had been numbered before and after this event. However, David's underlying intent revealed a deeper sin—neglecting to seek God's guidance and relying on national resources instead of God's Spirit. His thoughts were consumed by personal circumstances, achievements, and solutions, rather than what God desired for him to do. God, in His sovereignty, moved David to conduct the census, not to cause sin, but to manifest the sin already present in David's heart, bringing it into the open for healing to begin. This event underscores that sins such as self-reliance and presumption exist in the heart even before they are acted upon, and God, who looks on the heart, knew David's true state. The consequence of not seeking God's will led to severe judgment, highlighting the critical importance of aligning one's thoughts and actions with God's purpose.