2 Chronicles 20

This chapter contains what has to be one of the most moving expressions of trust in God to be found in the Bible, contained in the middle of Jehoshaphat’s prayer: "But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you [God] would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you." (vs 10-12)

We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. Isn’t that awesome?! First of all, I think it’s awesome that a leader—particularly a leader of a great nation—would publicly confess that he doesn’t know what to do. Especially in our modern society, with its politics of power and position, to admit that you don’t have a solution to a problem would be a death knell to your political career. (Then, just imagine if a politician said, "I don’t know what I’d do, but I’m trusting God to help me." Mercy!)

And that brings us to the second point of this confession: Jehoshaphat may not have known what to do, but he certainly knew where his help was going to come from. Even though he didn’t have the answer, he knew God did. And he was determined to wait on God (and inspire his whole nation to wait on God) until the help arrived. And, of course, if you read the rest of the chapter, you know that God most certainly helped His people avoid what would have been a devastating battle with nations who were much stronger than they were.

God knows what to do. Why is that always so hard for us to remember? We, on the other hand, often have no clue what to do—although we are unwilling to admit that to ourselves, let alone to others. In fact, don’t you just wonder how much different things would be in this world if we would humbly admit before God that we have absolutely no clue how to solve the problems that sin has caused?

God, people are starving to death in Africa. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

God, one out of every five pregnancies in the U.S. ends in abortion. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

God, violent crime seems to be spiraling out of control in our world. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

God, countless children are abused every day by their parents—who were abused themselves as children. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

What if we asked God—really asked Him—for His help and guidance? What if our country’s leaders did that? What if our church’s leaders did that? What if we did that?

One thing I believe for sure: we’d find answers. Because God has them, and He has never shown Himself to be unwilling to help us when we ask Him. God knows what to do. Let us fix our eyes on Him!