Word of Encouragement (11/08/2023)

And it was told David, "Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom." And David said, "O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness." (2 Sam. 15:31).

Ahithophel was a brilliant strategist, the best in Israel. He had served David well. But when Absalom raised his hand against David, he readily joined him. Many think that they know the reason. Ahithophel was Bathsheba’s grandfather (2 Sam. 11:3, 23:34). That meant that Uriah, her husband, was his grandson-in-law. It seems that Ahithophel was not at all happy about that, to say the least. He bit his tongue and continued to serve King David as his adviser, but he seemed to have lost whatever respect he had had for his king. So, when Absalom rebelled against David, he was on board right away.

When David heard the news about Ahithophel joining Absalom, all he could do was pray and do so right away: “O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.” David knew that he was in deep trouble: Ahithophel was not the kind of person whom you wanted to have on the opposing side. Out of desperation and despair, all David could do was cry out to God and ask Him to intervene. Ironically, Ahithophel’s name meant, “brother of foolishness.” David’s prayer was a play on the meaning of his name.

As far as we can see, David’s prayer was not wordy and long. It was what we call a “shotgun” or “arrow” prayer. This is the kind of prayer we lift to God quickly (and without even closing our eyes) as we are engaged in something else, not in our prayer closet. Sometimes the situation is so urgent that we cannot retire to a secret place to have an extended time of prayer. We must keep going and moving but the situation is so dire that we must cry out to God. So, as we flee, as we pump out water in a sinking boat, we “shoot” these short but intense prayers to God.

Nehemiah was a master of such prayers. When King Artaxerxes asked him why his countenance was sad and what his requests were, he offered a quick prayer to the LORD for wisdom (Neh. 2:4). When he heard about the taunting of the enemies regarding his building project (to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem), he quickly offered a prayer (Neh. 4:4-5). When he discovered the enemies’ plot to kill him, he offered another quick prayer (Neh. 6:14). God’s people throughout history have offered such prayers and pleaded with God to arise and act on their behalf.

As we read on the story of David, we see that God heard his prayer and foiled Ahithophel’s advice to Absalom. That turned the tide against David, and he was restored to Jerusalem. Before Jesus taught His disciples the Lord’s Prayer, He said, “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words” (Matt. 6:7). God is gracious to hear even the desperate, short prayers we utter as we deal with our urgent situations. This is not to say that we don’t need that extended time of prayer, dedicated to communing with God. But our prayer should not be restricted to the time of our private devotion. We should be prayerful at all times—not just because we have many urgent needs but also because God has made Himself available to us through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.