1 Chronicles 21:13

And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait, the entire matter now oppressed him severely. Let me fall now into the hand of the Lord, for very great are His mercies; but let me not fall into the hand of man. Experience had taught David that human passion and desire for vengeance has no bounds, while the wise and gracious Father in heaven knows the kind, and regulates the amount, of punishment as everyone of His children needs it and can bear it.