Psalm 55:9

Psalm 55:9

Lord, confuse the wicked

I believe that the Lord God heard and answered this prayer of David. He had been ousted as King, from Jerusalem, by his son Absalom. Absalom’s years of plotting and scheming and devious undermining of his father’s authority had led to a coup. David had fled the city of Jerusalem with a few loyal followers and once again, he was a fugitive. He had an adviser who had been trusted by David as a man of God. His name was Ahithophel. When Absalom sought advice as to how he should get rid of the threat that David still posed, Ahithophel advised that he should choose 12,000 men and go after him, that very night. “You will strike him down with terror and the people with him will come back to you.” That advice was correct and would have been the end of David, but Absalom listened instead to other advice from a man called Hushai. He suggested that all of the fighting men from across Israel be brought together into a vast army, only then could they take on the might of the great King David. Absalom listened to the bad advice and from then on, he was doomed to fail, he could have acted quickly but the Lord, “Confused the wicked, confounding their words.”  The story is recounted in 2 Samuel 17.

Sometimes, we have very little awareness of what is going on as we pray. Did David ever find out how things worked out for him, how the Lord answered his prayer? That plaintive cry from the heart in a time of desperation had a tangible influence on the decisions being made in the royal palace in Jerusalem. From then on, Absalom was doomed! Let us never underestimate the power of prayer and the ripple effects that it has on events and decisions that are being made, even as we are praying. 

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