Who’s in charge here?
2 Samuel 5: David prayed to God: Shall I go up and fight?
Those Philistine warlords must be kicking themselves over how they treated David when he lived in Ziklag. There he was, right in their territory with just 600 warriors. It would’ve been easy to have taken him out. Now he’s king of Israel with all the resources of that land under his command. David’s taken over the stronghold of the Jebusites, Jerusalem, as his center of operations, and now the Philistines come to make up for their past mistake by attacking David and his army. As they mass for a fight, David turns to God. He seeks and receives direction from the Lord and then, with God’s permission, engages the enemies of Israel. David’s approach isn’t the one I’m most likely to use. I see enemies and decide to fight. Only then do I call on God to help me win my righteous battle. In other words, I set the agenda and ask God to bless it. David sees enemies, calls on God, and then goes to battle as God directs. The Lord sets the agenda for David. Know what? I think David’s way is better.
Take Away: For some reason it’s hard for us to consistently seek the Lord’s way first.