It is important to be a step ahead of where Satan might come. We have to pray, we are told, that we not be led into temptation. If we know we have a particular weakness, we need to pray for strength in that area, that the Lord will help us and strengthen us. The more specific that the Saints are in our prayers, the more the Lord can help us.
If you know the moves that your opponent is going use, you can anticipate their moves. If you are just a little bit ahead, you can stop that move before it has any momentum. Timing is important. It would be nice if we knew more. In the case of the Adversary, we do know quite a bit. We have been warned, we have been told. We just need to execute. That is something to learn from this otherwise rather unpleasant story.
The Nephites were always one step ahead of the Lamanites in terms of technology. Moroni’s defenses were things that had never been done before in the five hundred years of Lehite history. They had begun building actual defenses on their cities. For some reason, this had not been done before, and it came as a tremendous surprise to the Lamanites.