2 Samuel 17:1

2 Samuel 17:1 says, Moreover Ahithophel said unto Absalom, Let me now choose out twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue after David this night:  Ahithophel asked Absalom for twelve thousand men to pursue David starting that night.  I am not sure what led to Ahithophel turning against David, but he was evidently very anxious to destroy him.  David only had a small force with him and Ahithophel wanted twelve thousand men to pursue him.  It may be that he was yet afraid of the power that David had always had, bu if he was afraid of the God, the source of God's power, he would have known that no number of men would have been enough to destroy him.  We cannot expect the world to attempt to fight fairly with us today, and the more that we are representing God, the more they will want to destroy us.  Verse two adds, And I will come upon him while he is weary and weak handed, and will make him afraid: and all the people that are with him shall flee; and I will smite the king only:   Ahithophel said he would catch David when he was weary and weak handed and make him afraid.  He underestimated David’s strength, or more importantly the strength of David's God, and since God had anointed David and not Absalom king, Ahithophel was fighting against God as well.  If we as followers of Christ are seen as weak and nearly defeated by people of the world today, they need to remember Who our source of power is, and so do we.  As long as God is with us and we are obedient to Him, we will never be destroyed spiritually.  Verse three continues, And I will bring back all the people unto thee: the man whom thou seekest is as if all returned: so all the people shall be in peace.  Ahithophel had said that he would kill only David and that then he would bring back all the rest of his troops to serve Absalom.  Again, he was putting his faith in the number of troops he had versus the number that David had and was totally forgetting about God.   People today still believe that with large enough numbers aligned against God's people that they can defeat them, but they forget about God.  We as Christians must never forget the power of God as we fight against evil in the world today.   Ahithophel said that once he did this that Absalom would rule over all the people in peace, but true peace comes only from God and can never be gained by going against God's will.  Verse four concludes,  And the saying pleased Absalom well, and all the elders of Israel.  This pleased not only Absalom, but all the elders of Israel as well.  These were the leaders of God's chosen people going against God's will and being pleased to do so.  We need to pray that as Christians we never do the same thing today.