Context No. 2875 of 4322 · 2 Samuel

2 Samuel 15:31-37: in context

31Someone told David, saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” David said, “LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.” 32When David had come to the top, where God was worshiped, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his tunic torn and earth on his head. 33David said to him, “If you pass on with me, then you will be a burden to me; 34but if you return to the city, and tell Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king. As I have been your father’s servant in time past, so I will now be your servant; then you will defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel.’ 35Don’t you have Zadok and Abiathar the priests there with you? Therefore whatever you hear out of the king’s house, tell it to Zadok and Abiathar the priests. 36Behold, they have there with them their two sons, Ahimaaz, Zadok’s son, and Jonathan, Abiathar’s son. Send to me everything that you shall hear by them.” 37So Hushai, David’s friend, came into the city; and Absalom came into Jerusalem.

As David flees Jerusalem during Absalom's revolt, word reaches him that his trusted counselor Ahithophel has joined the conspiracy. David prays a short, desperate prayer: LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness. And then, at the very top of the hill, his friend Hushai comes to meet him with torn clothes and dust on his head.

Watch how prayer and action come together. David has just asked God to defeat Ahithophel's advice, and when Hushai appears, he sees the answer taking shape and acts on it, sending Hushai back into Absalom's court as a double agent to counter Ahithophel, and setting up a chain of messengers. He does not merely pray and then passively wait, nor scheme without prayer. He prays, and then works as though God will answer through his working, making himself part of the very answer he asked for.

Do I hold prayer and action together, praying for God to act and then moving as one of the means through which he answers?

Sources

2 Samuel 15:31: "LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness."
2 Samuel 17:14: "For the LORD had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that the LORD might bring evil on Absalom."
Nehemiah 4:9: "But we made our prayer to our God, and set a watch against them day and night."