A tool can do no more than the tools it was defined from. Therefore, we might better predict it, and cache new insights.
Therefore, apply that tool when you can, so the reader needs not rederive those insights.
A tool is never longer than its definition. Therefore, it's a good heuristic to shorten your code.
The same goes for text, but then the reader needs definitions, hence the link to this post.
Recursion is the maximally powerful tool of pure code. Its irreducible use is surprisingly rare in practice.
Therefore, seeing recursion in the wild hints at reducibility.