Praying For The Obvious

“And David enquired of God, saying, Shall I go up against the Philistines? and wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the LORD said unto him, Go up; for I will deliver them into thine hand.” (1Ch 14:10 AV)

 

Going up against one’s enemies should be a no brainer.  This is David’s first campaign following he ascension to Jerusalem.  He reigned in Hebron for seven years and the rest of the nation had just consented to coronating him king of all Israel.  David was on a high.  One would think a man in his position would not bother to pray about the obvious.  This goes to show the humility of Israel’s favorite king.  This humility came at a cost.  This humility came at the failure to complete a unified effort in bringing the ark to the city of David.  This humility came at the death of Uzzah who put forth his hand to steady the ark as it appeared to be slipping off an ox cart.  David learned that he should pray, not just for the obvious, but the details of the obvious.  This prayer was not for the answer of going up only.  Rather, it was for the method and battle plan to accomplish the defeat of the enemy.  David learned that no matter how successful he was, he could still fail if he didn’t consult with God.  He learned that to bring up the ark correctly, he should have consulted the word of God and the priests rather than assume he knew just how to do it.  Now, faced with a battle, he seeks God’s guidance on the ‘how’ as much as the ‘should we’.

As we age, we seem to need our parents less and less.  What we forget is our parents do not stop learning.  They will always be older and wiser.  In some things, that is.  There are areas of life we may have the upper hand.  But not in all areas.  We may be more proficient in our areas of training.  We may know more about certain things than our parents.  But in general life experience, our parents will always be senior.  Staying young and seeking advice whether we think we need it or not is deeply appreciated by those who have earned the right to be respected.  When we seek their input, they feel as though they are still worth something.  They feel they still have something to contribute.  The day is coming when Mom and Dad will no longer be around.  I remember several years ago, I was trying to solve a problem at work.  I ran a manufacturing line that produced perfectly round pieces from a square panel of maturial.  These round pieces were punched out through a press and stacked automatically.  When the machine operator looked at the stack, he would notice they did not align perfectly.  They were off, every five pieces.  The operator who didn’t know any better and never paid attention to his high school geometry teacher would chase his or her tail trying to get that stack to line up.  This only led to more errors.  After a few adjustments, I realized a perfectly aligned stack of circular pieces punched out of a square sheet of material was impossible.  Mathematically, it could not happen.  No downtime for my line.  It kept running with an acceptable and minute imperfection.  I called my dad from work.  He was a doctorate-level mathematician and ran the problem by him.  He concurred that it would be mathematically impossible to have a stack of round pieces perfectly aligned if cut from a square grid.  What a piece of mind!

David was not too proud to go to God and ask for guidance for the obvious.  Perhaps he would have had the same results from battle if he never prayed at all.  Perhaps he would have conquered the enemy with just as much sufficiency as when the LORD gave him the battle plan.  Perhaps he would have come up with the same plan the LORD gave him.  We will never know.  Because David prayed regarding the obvious, his leadership was affirmed in the decisions he made.  This was missing when he tried to bring up the ark.  He got the consent of the people.  Everyone was on board.  They all agreed it was of the LORD.  There was a unified spirit to bring the ark back to where it belonged and for God’s people to enquire by it.   There was every reason to do it and no reason not to.  The one thing they forgot was to pray.  Had they prayed, the LORD would have reminded them of the method by which they were to transport the ark.  No one would have had to die.  There would have been no delay.  The ark would have returned and God would have been glorified.  David learned his lesson.  No more prideful independence.  Now, he will pray even for the obvious.