At a loss

“We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” (2 Chronicles 20:12)

This verse came to my mind this evening as I was out for a run. I love it both for its simplicity and its honesty.  

In this chapter of 2 Chronicles, the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites had come to wage battle against Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. As Jehoshaphat considers the fight before him, he stands in the midst of his people and recounts how God delivered Israel in the past. Then, in stark honesty, he states he and his people “have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us.” 

Basically, we’re in a fight we can’t win. It looks hopeless. And I’m guessing there wasn’t really a Plan B that held any appeal.

But then at the close of verse 12, we reach the turning point of the story, when Jehoshaphat says to God, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” 

Under threat of battle from an enemy they were powerless to defeat, the Israelites didn’t fix their eyes on the danger but on their God. 

Verse 13 continues: “All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the Lord.” The word translated “stood” is amad, and beyond meaning literally to stand, it’s also sometimes used in Scripture to convey the idea of “to stand firm” or “to remain”. 

The Israelites fixed their eyes on the Lord, and then…they stood. 

Only then did God’s Spirit speak to them and say, “Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s” (verse 15).

Over the next several verses, we read how God delivered Judah from her enemies. 

Sometimes our battles are cut and dry. More often, they can make no sense and instead confound and confuse us and leave us wondering which way to turn and what to do. 

That’s when we say to God openly: “Lord, I don’t know what to do, but my eyes are on You.”  Then, we stand before Him—in humility, trust, faith, and even anticipation—to hear what He will say. 

The spiritual battles we face are not ours. They are His. To us belongs not the task of figuring out how to fight these battles but rather the calling to turn our eyes on Jesus, fix our gaze on Him, and never look away.