“But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot and with his head covered. And all the people who were with him covered their heads, and they went up, weeping as they went. 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. 15:30-31, ESV)
Absalom’s revolt succeeded (2 Sam. 15:1-12). David fled and went into exile the second time (2 Sam. 15:13ff). Ahithophel was the national counselor: “Now in those days the counsel that Ahithophel gave was as if one consulted the word of God; so was all the counsel of Ahithophel esteemed, both by David and by Absalom.” (2 Sam. 16:23, ESV) Ahithophel worked for and with David when he was in power. When David was not in the position of power, Ahithophel betrayed him and looked for another power figure. Ahithophel was a wise and smart strategist. But he was not a loyal companion. As Eugene Peterson notes:
Ahithophel betrayed David that night because he thought the future of the kingdom was with Absalom. All the smart money that night was on Absalom, and Ahithophel was nothing if not smart. It turns out that at heart Ahithophel was an opportunist.[1]
At the moment David experienced betrayal, David prayed: “O Lord, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.” He prayed while he was walking up to the mountain. He continued to move on while he was praying. He didn’t stop, close his eyes, and then pray. He prayed in the midst of action.
“While David was coming to the summit, where God was worshiped, behold, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn and dirt on his head. David said to him, ‘If you go on with me, you will be a burden to me. But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father’s servant in time past, so now I will be your servant,’ then you will defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel.’” (2 Sam. 15:32-34, ESV)
There was no pre-arrangement in the scene. David prayed the prayer. Hushai the Archite showed up later. On the spot, David made a decision to send Hushai back to Absalom and trusted that God could answer his prayer, which was to defeat the counsel of Ahithophel, through this person. David didn’t just pray; he discerned. He paid attention to God as well as his surroundings. Can we say that God answered David’s short and sincere prayer through Hushai? David had something to do with that answered prayer. God sent Hushai to him, but did David send him to Absalom? David prayed. He paid attention to what God was doing in his surroundings. He actively participated in the process of answering that prayer. We see that there was a balance in David’s spirituality: practical theology.
In Nehemiah 4:7-9 ESV, it says, “But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.” Nehemiah and the Israelites prayed to God and arranged people to protect the building project day and night. What a balance!
In pastoral ministry, there is always a missing link between prayer and action: theology and practicality. We often pray. Yet we only have little intention to integrate what we have in our surroundings. Very often, I am convinced that we just give our lips service in prayer. It’s not that we don’t have faith when we pray to God. The problem is not about faith. The root problem is that we just expect God to answer our prayers with faith alone. Sometimes, I suspect that we don’t have any expectation. We just pray because we are supposed to pray. Prayer is a holy habit. The Bible discourages any sort of passive spirituality. We pray for a vision. In planning, we need to come up with a solid plan to execute that vision even though such a plan may not be as perfect as we think. In detailed planning, I believe that God will answer our prayers in action. Our prayers may not be answered the way we want it. However, it is being answered.
We apply faith alone to our salvation. However, faith alone is not good enough in Christian living. Faith alone is the foundation and beginning of Christian theology. Faith alone does not promote mature Christian spirituality.
In the following narrative, we see that Absalom and all his men preferred the counsel of Hushai over the counsel of Ahithophel. The narrator drew a theological conclusion in this episode: “For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom” (2 Sam. 17:14, ESV; see 2 Sam. 17:1-14). The narrator confirmed that David’s practical spirituality was divine-ordained.
[1] Eugene Peterson, Leap Over a Wall: Earthly Spirituality for Everyday Christians (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 1997), p. 200.
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