05 When God’s Plan isn’t Obvious (2 Samuel 17)

In this episode, we stay with Absalom’s rebellion in 2 Samuel 17 and pay attention to what no one in the story can see in real time: God’s quiet, determined care for David. As clever advisers scheme, messengers run, and unnamed people take great risks, we trace how the Lord is actively working for his king’s preservation—and how Romans 8 helps us understand what God is doing while we are exhausted, afraid, and unsure how to pray. 

In this week’s episode, we explore:

• Ahithophel’s sharp, politically sound strategy to end the conflict quickly—and why the narrator still calls it “good counsel,” even though God intends to overturn it 
• How Hushai skillfully appeals to Absalom’s fears and vanity, trading a swift, efficient strike for a slower, riskier plan that buys David precious time 
• The turning point of verse 14, where we’re told plainly that the Lord himself has decided to defeat Ahithophel’s advice in order to bring judgment on Absalom—God’s hidden hand at work in human decisions 
• The intricate spy network that carries news from Jerusalem to David, and the “motley crew” of faithful helpers—from priests’ sons to unnamed women to aging allies—who quietly risk their lives for the true king 
• Ahithophel’s tragic suicide, and how his story foreshadows Judas—both men unable to imagine repentance or entrust themselves to God’s mercy once their plans collapse 
• How Romans 8:26–30 reframes our groaning and confusion: the Spirit intercedes when we don’t know what to ask, and “all things work together for good” means our being conformed to the image of Christ, not an easy life 
• Why Paul insists that nothing—not tribulation, distress, danger, or even our own failures—can separate us from the love of God in Christ, and how that truth speaks into David’s wilderness experience and ours 
• Two practical takeaways: expanding our view of how many ways God may be at work around us, and recognizing that we might be more like the unnamed woman at the well than like David—ordinary people woven into God’s extraordinary purposes 

After listening, you’ll be better able to trust that God is neither absent nor indifferent when life feels like chapter 17—complicated, perilous, and mostly “plot.” You’ll be invited to rest in the Spirit’s wise intercession, to see your circumstances as part of a carefully designed path toward Christlikeness, and to live with quiet courage—whether you feel like David in the wilderness or simply like someone carrying water, not yet realizing how God is using your small acts of faith in his larger, loving plan. 

Series: The Rebellion of Absalom

Start Strong: A New Believer’s Guide to Christianity is available now wherever books are sold.