What if you prayed for something that would actually hurt you — would God still give it to you? A story from King David’s life answers that question.
King David’s prayer against Absalom
In 2 Samuel 15-19, Scripture tells the story of Absalom’s rebellion. This was one of David’s sons who attempted to steal the throne from him and even ignited a brief civil war within Israel. Despite how short the story is, it contains a lot of characters and many moving parts.
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One of those characters is Ahithophel, an advisor to King David who was known for giving excellent advice. As 2 Samuel 16:23 will say of Ahithophel’s wisdom: “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.”
And unfortunately for David, when the rebellion begins, Ahithophel joins Absalom’s side. Mentally speaking, this was heavy firepower for “Team Absalom.” David feared he would not win this political chess match against Absalom.
With human solutions to this crisis deteriorating away, David turned to the Lord for help.
2 Samuel 15:31: “And David said, ‘O Lord, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.’”
If Ahithophel was going to be on David’s side, the only hope was that Ahithophel would give uncharacteristically bad advice. David believes this is what he needs if he is going to be victorious over Absalom.
Interestingly, God meets David’s need by doing the exact opposite of what David prayed.
Absalom’s fatal decision
During these chapters, David flees Jerusalem. When Ahithophel tells Absalom what has to happen to deliver the killing blow to David, he says this in 2 Samuel 17:1-3: “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight. I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged and throw him into a panic, and all the people who are with him will flee. I will strike down only the king, and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man, and all the people will be at peace.”
Ahithophel’s counsel was not turned to foolishness here. Presumably, this was perfect advice. Right now, David is weak; this is the perfect time to strike. This would mean the end of David’s reign — and life.
Except Absalom rejected it. Absalom decides to listen to a different advisor, his father’s friend Hushai. Unbeknownst to him, Hushai is actually still loyal to David and intentionally giving bad advice. Hushai’s recommendation is that Absalom wait until the next day before attacking David.
2 Samuel 17:14a: “And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, ‘The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.’”
This ends up sealing Absalom’s fate, as King David rallies his men and makes a great comeback after this.
Why did Absalom defer to Hushai’s proposal over Ahithophel’s? Scripture tells us that God was influencing these decisions.
2 Samuel 17:14b: “For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom.”
And if you know the rest of the story, you know it’s all downhill for Absalom from here. David reclaims his throne, Ahithophel goes home to hang himself, and Absalom never becomes king.
We can trust God to answer the right prayers in the right way
David prayed that Ahithophel would give bad advice so that Absalom would lose the battle. God answers David’s prayer a different way. Ahithophel actually ends up giving very good advice, but God causes Absalom to reject it.
In the end, David’s greatest need — surviving with his throne intact — is met, just in a different method than David requested.
What does this story show us about the way God answers prayer?
It demonstrates that regardless of what words we are saying when we pray, God knows three things we don’t.
1. God knows our true needs
In this story, God knows what David is ultimately requesting in prayer. And David thinks he has to give God the details on how to accomplish it.
We are often that way, too. When we pray, we don’t just tell God what we want. We tell God how we want it done. We tell God who should do it. And we even tell God when we want it done — and it’s usually right now.
And yet we often find that when God finally comes through, it’s in a different way and timing than we expected. That’s because God knows how to meet our deepest needs.
David’s request wasn’t to bring harm to Absalom — in fact, David wanted Absalom to survive this conflict, as we learn in chapter 18. But God knew that Absalom had to fall if David’s throne was going to endure. God met David’s greatest need despite the lesser details in his prayer.
2. God knows the final outcome
God views everything from a higher vantage point. He sees the whole situation. He knows the future.
And it’s no surprise; as Isaiah 55:8-9 tells us: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
So, when Absalom rejected Ahithophel’s advice, Absalom was not even in control of the situation as much as he thought he was. Scripture tells us this was something “the lord had ordained.” And the final result brought about was according to God’s plan — “that the Lord might bring harm upon Absalom.”
3. God knows what’s ultimately best
When we pray, Jesus told us to begin our prayers with this request: “Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Before we ask for anything — our daily bread, forgiveness, deliverance — we are to first ask that God’s ultimate will be done first and foremost.
It’s important to orient our prayers this way because it reminds us that God’s will is what we always want to see prevail. God invites us to bring our requests to Him, but if what we’re asking for might ultimately be to our harm, we give Him permission to reject any request that’s not in accordance with His will.
And if God wants to answer our prayer but change a few of the smaller details, we give Him permission to do that, too. His will be done.
Trust God to do what’s best
When we center our prayers around the will of God, you do not have to worry about God answering your prayer in a way that’s bad for you. If we bring our requests to Him in purity of heart, He won’t give us a snake when we ask for a fish (see Luke 11:10-13). God loves us as His children and won’t answer our prayers in a way that’s actually detrimental.
When we pray, we can come to God with this confidence: that He sees our true needs, knows the eventual outcome, and will always do what’s best.
If God hasn’t answered a prayer yet on your timetable, don’t be discouraged. Bring your good ideas to God — and let Him return with a better one.
Luke Taylor is an ordained minister with the Assemblies of God. He is the host of the “Weird Stuff in the Bible” podcast and recently launched a website (WeirdStuffInTheBible.com) to further answer peoples’ questions about the strange things in Scripture.
