Inquiring of the Lord

2 Samuel 5-9

Whenever David is about to go out to battle against another nation, he always seems to "inquire of the Lord." David has realized that no matter how strong his mighty men are... no matter how gifted their leader is... if the Lord is not on their side, there is no value in fighting. I wonder why then, when David is about to take another wife or concubine, he doesn't inquire of the Lord. Even as King he must know that you can't just keep adding new wives and concubines and assume that everything will work out okay... no matter how strong or gifted a man might be, if the Lord is not in the marriage, there will be fighting eventually.

Sadly, we see that "After moving from Hebron to Jerusalem, David married more concubines and wives, and they had more sons and daughters" and it didn't take too long before one of the wives became jealous. Michal, who had loved him dearly, became jealous when David danced before the Lord. That jealousy probably had its roots in all of the added wives and concubines since she scorns him by saying "How distinguished the king of Israel looked today, shamelessly exposing himself to the servant girls like any vulgar person might do!" She may have assumed that he was on the prowl for another wife or concubine among the servant girls. While we should not worry about what others think of our methods of worshiping God, we would do well to inquire of the Lord before undertaking a battle, a wife, or other significant steps.