2 Samuel 17

God’s got your back

 So, Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than the advice of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had purposed to defeat the good advice of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring disaster on Absalom. ~ 2 Samuel 17:14

 Have you ever wondered how many times God has protected you without you even knowing it? We thank Him for the prayers He answered, the doors He opened, and the blessings we can clearly see. But what about the accidents that never happened, the bad decisions you never made, or the conversations you were never invited into? Sometimes God’s greatest miracles are the ones we never realize He did because He stopped the enemy before we ever knew there was a battle.

That is exactly what happened in today’s reading. David had no idea that while he was fleeing for his life, God was already fighting for him behind the scenes. Ahithophel gave brilliant military advice that would have almost guaranteed David’s defeat. Yet God intervened. He caused Absalom to reject the better plan and follow Hushai’s counsel instead. It wasn’t because Hushai’s strategy was superior. It was because God had already decided David would be protected. The enemy thought he had the upper hand, but God quietly reminded everyone who was really in charge.

If God protected David that way, He is still able to protect His people today. Here are three reminders that show that God’s got your back still today.

1. God Is Fighting Battles You Can’t See

David didn’t know what conversations were happening in Absalom’s camp. He wasn’t trying to manipulate people or control the outcome. While David rested in God’s care, the Lord was already turning the enemy’s plans upside down.

You can also trust God even when you don’t know what’s happening behind the scenes. Maybe you’re waiting to hear about a job, praying over one of your children, or asking God to restore a relationship. It may feel like nothing is happening, but God may already be working in places you cannot see. He can change hearts, redirect decisions, and arrange circumstances in ways no human being ever could. Just because you don’t see God moving doesn’t mean He has stopped working.

2. God Can Turn the Enemy’s Best Plan Into His Biggest Defeat

Ahithophel’s advice was excellent. Humanly speaking, it should have worked. But no strategy is greater than God’s purpose. The very plan designed to destroy David became the beginning of Absalom’s downfall. The enemy may have a plan, but God always has the final word.

Stop giving so much attention to what the enemy is doing and start thanking God for what He is able to do. Maybe fear keeps reminding you of everything that could go wrong. Instead of rehearsing worst case scenarios, begin thanking God for His protection, His wisdom, and His faithfulness. Fear grows when we feed it. Faith grows when we feed on God’s promises in His word. The enemy may think he’s winning, but God has already written the last chapter.

3. God Uses Ordinary People to Accomplish Extraordinary Things

Hushai, Jonathan, Ahimaaz, a courageous woman with a well, and friends who brought food to David all played important roles in God’s plan. None of them were sitting on a throne, but God worked through every one of them. Sometimes the greatest victories come through simple acts of obedience.

Don’t underestimate the importance of what God has asked you to do today. Your encouragement may strengthen someone who is ready to give up. Your prayer may help someone keep believing. Your act of kindness may remind someone that God sees them. You don’t have to stand on a stage to make an eternal difference. God has a wonderful way of turning ordinary people into Kingdom difference makers.

I’ve seen this in my own life more times than I can count. There have been situations where I thought I had to figure everything out myself, only to discover later that God had already gone ahead of me. He put the right people in my path, closed doors that would have taken me in the wrong direction, and opened opportunities I never could have created on my own. Looking back, I can clearly see His fingerprints on circumstances that seemed completely ordinary at the time. What I thought was coincidence was actually God’s protection and provision all along. He truly had my back, even when I didn’t realize I needed protecting.

Today I want to encourage you to trust that God’s got your back. You may not see everything He is doing today, but He is faithfully working on your behalf. Don’t become discouraged when life feels uncertain or when the enemy seems to have a plan. God is greater than every obstacle, every scheme, and every attack. Continue walking in obedience, keep your eyes on Him, and rest in the confidence that your Heavenly Father is watching over you. The same God who protected David is still protecting His children today, and nothing can stop His good plans for your life.

Here are some ways to live this out today.

• Begin your day by thanking God for His protection before you see the answers.
• When fear tries to imagine the worst, replace those thoughts with God’s promises.
• Pray for wisdom instead of trying to control every situation yourself.
• Look for opportunities to quietly encourage or help someone today.
• End your day by thanking God for the ways He protected you, even the ones you may never know about.

Today’s scripture reading: 2 Samuel 17

1 Moreover Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Now let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight. 

2 I will come upon him while he is weary and weak, and make him afraid. And all the people who are with him will flee, and I will strike only the king. 

3 Then I will bring back all the people to you. When all return except the man whom you seek, all the people will be at peace.” 

4 And the saying pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

5 Then Absalom said, “Now call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear what he says too.” 

6 And when Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom spoke to him, saying, “Ahithophel has spoken in this manner. Shall we do as he says? If not, speak up.”

7 So Hushai said to Absalom: “The advice that Ahithophel has given is not good at this time. 

8 For,” said Hushai, “you know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are enraged in their minds, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field; and your father is a man of war, and will not camp with the people. 

9 Surely by now he is hidden in some pit, or in some other place. And it will be, when some of them are overthrown at the first, that whoever hears it will say, ‘There is a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’ 

10 And even he who is valiant, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will melt completely. For all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are valiant men. 

11 Therefore I advise that all Israel be fully gathered to you, from Dan to Beersheba, like the sand that is by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person. 

12 So we will come upon him in some place where he may be found, and we will fall on him as the dew falls on the ground. And of him and all the men who are with him there shall not be left so much as one. 

13 Moreover, if he has withdrawn into a city, then all Israel shall bring ropes to that city; and we will pull it into the river, until there is not one small stone found there.”

14 So Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than the advice of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had purposed to defeat the good advice of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring disaster on Absalom.

15 Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “Thus and so Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel, and thus and so I have advised. 

16 Now therefore, send quickly and tell David, saying, ‘Do not spend this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily cross over, lest the king and all the people who are with him be swallowed up.’ ” 

17 Now Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed at En Rogel, for they dared not be seen coming into the city; so a female servant would come and tell them, and they would go and tell King David. 

18 Nevertheless a lad saw them, and told Absalom. But both of them went away quickly and came to a man’s house in Bahurim, who had a well in his court; and they went down into it. 

19 Then the woman took and spread a covering over the well’s mouth, and spread ground grain on it; and the thing was not known. 

20 And when Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house, they said, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?”

So the woman said to them, “They have gone over the water brook.”

And when they had searched and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem. 

21 Now it came to pass, after they had departed, that they came up out of the well and went and told King David, and said to David, “Arise and cross over the water quickly. For thus has Ahithophel advised against you.” 

22 So David and all the people who were with him arose and crossed over the Jordan. By morning light not one of them was left who had not gone over the Jordan.

23 Now when Ahithophel saw that his advice was not followed, he saddled a donkey, and arose and went home to his house, to his city. Then he put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died; and he was buried in his father’s tomb.

24 Then David went to Mahanaim. And Absalom crossed over the Jordan, he and all the men of Israel with him. 

25 And Absalom made Amasa captain of the army instead of Joab. This Amasa was the son of a man whose name was Jithra, an Israelite, who had gone in to Abigail the daughter of Nahash, sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother. 

26 So Israel and Absalom encamped in the land of Gilead.

27 Now it happened, when David had come to Mahanaim, that Shobi the son of Nahash from Rabbah of the people of Ammon, Machir the son of Ammiel from Lo Debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim, 

28 brought beds and basins, earthen vessels and wheat, barley and flour, parched grain and beans, lentils and parched seeds, 

29 honey and curds, sheep and cheese of the herd, for David and the people who were with him to eat. For they said, “The people are hungry and weary and thirsty in the wilderness.”

Journal:

• Can I think of a time when I realized later that God had protected me?
• What situation am I trying to control instead of trusting God with?
• Where do I need to believe that God is working behind the scenes?
• How can I become part of God’s plan by serving someone else this week?
• What promise from God’s Word reminds me that He is watching over me?