Praying For The Obvious

“And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.” (1Sa 30:8 AV)

 

Isn’t this a bit weird?  The Amalekites raided David’s camp while he and his men were in Gath with the king of the Philistines.  They carried away everything including women and children.  All they possessed including their families were taken.  Upon returning, David enquires of the LORD as to whether he should go up against those who took everything and regain what they had lost.  Why?  Why pray?  Why seek God’s permission?  Wouldn’t He say yes, anyway?  This seems like a no-brainer.  If I were David, I would ask ‘how’ not ‘if’.  I wouldn’t care whether I overtook them or not.  It is the principle of the thing.  They kidnapped my family.  Only God knows what they are doing with my daughters and wife.  Perhaps my sons are dead.  Or worse, sold into slavery, never to be recovered.  I would have immediately jumped on my horse and ridden toward the enemy with anger and vengeance, praying along the way for God to bless my effort.  Win or lose, I would go after them.  But David enquired.  David prayed.  David asked for permission and assurance of success.  He took a little extra time to insure God’s participation and leading in what should have been an instinctual and proper action.  David took time to pray for the obvious and God did not take it as an affront.

A few days ago, we looked at David as a military leader and how he put into practice the EAE principle.  That is, he evaded Goliath, assesses the success, and plan to confront Goliath, and then he engaged Goliath.  Here, we see another principle of battle.  Never go into battle without the shield of prayer.  Even if the cause is noble, absolutely necessary, and the obvious plan of God, prayer is essential before action is taken.  David was known as a bloody man.  He was not afraid to take action when action was required.  But the thing about David was he knew when action was not warranted.  There were several situations he left for Solomon to handle.  There were times when David showed wisdom and restraint.  Such was the case with Abner.  Joab thought differently and murdered Abner.  David was not a rash military leader.  His actions were well thought out, prayed over, and zealously pursued.  David attacked with zeal and passion.  He defended against threats with everything he was and had.  No one could accuse David of mediocrity concerning his calling.  Being a man of passionate emotions, motivation was not his problem.  He had plenty of it.  David knew who or what the enemy was and was not afraid to engage.

So, why would David pray about something obvious?  Why would he seek God’s face over something he was bound and determined to do anyway?  We might never know.  We can, however, offer some suggestions.  Since motivation was not a need, there might have been other needs.  Remember, he and his men had lost their families.  There would have been a lot of emotion involved.  Too much emotion can cause us to lose judgment.  We cannot see clearly.  Perhaps David was checking his emotion against the will of God to make sure the reason for retrieving his family was more about the will of God than how he felt.  Emotion can also cause us to rush out without a plan that will work.  Perhaps David was seeking more specific details of God’s will here that will accomplish the desired goal.  Perhaps the problem has resolved itself and he was unaware at the moment.  Perhaps the Amalekites were defeated and their families were on their way back.  Maybe the Philistines who initially rejected David now defended him and there was no need to retrieve what we already on its way.  There could have been many reasons why God would say no.  Perhaps the unthinkable happened and everything and everyone was destroyed.  Why jeopardize his men only to come upon a scene of destruction?  David was right to pray.  We should always pray even though we may think the obvious doesn’t need it.  If anything, it would be good to process our emotional state before we act lest we do things we might regret later.