No Fear: Devotions From Time of GraceSample

We Don’t Know What to Do

Some problems are smallish and don’t task your brain too much—the water pump on your car breaks down . . . you have a leaky pipe in your basement . . . you find some rotten wood under a window sash in the dining room.

And then there’s a massive invasion by Moabites and Ammonites from your southern border. King Jehoshaphat of Judah heard alarming news of a vast army coming for Jerusalem apparently unprovoked, and he feared it would overwhelm his defenses. He did just the right thing—he consulted the Lord: “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” (2 Chronicles 20:12).

There is no shame in admitting that some problems are just too big for you. Stage 4 pancreatic cancer is like the invasion of the Moabites. So is a marriage breakup, being fired at age 60, the discovery of major embezzling by your business partner, or the death of a child. Sometimes you are just so stunned that there is nothing to do but pray to the Lord, “We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

God was so pleased with Jehoshaphat’s prayer that he simply turned Judah’s enemies against one another, and they slaughtered one another until none was left. It just may be that God has a solution for your troubles that only he could think of and that only he could pull off.