“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: 30-33
Pastor Dan preached an important aspect of prayer which is to approach God with boldness. One of the lessons we can learn through the life of David is to understand how we can be bold when we come before God, presenting our requests to him.
One example of this is when David prayed and asked God to change the wise counsel of Ahithophel, one of David’s top counselors, to foolishness. David’s son Absalom was usurping the kingdom from David, and so David and his followers fled the city while his son sought to take his life. The majority of Israel sided with Absalom, including some of David’s officials such as Ahithophel. Even while he was in the lowest of his situations, David turned toward the Lord.
David likely felt many emotions at this time: anger, betrayal, sadness, misery, shame, guilt, bewilderment, etc… But despite these emotions, he was confident that when he prayed to the Lord, that the Lord would answer. And God did indeed provide an answer with a person: Hushai (v. 33) who would become a spy for David and sway the wisdom of Ahithophel.
We may experience difficult situations and obstacles, but we can be confident like David that when we approach our God, He will meet our needs and come to our rescue. We can have the confidence and boldness to approach God. And the writer of Hebrews says similarly, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” — Hebrews 4:16 — because of the great High Priest we have who intercedes for us.