We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. 2 Chronicles 20:12
It’s a vital principle of Bible reading that we should be very careful about pulling a single verse or two out of their context and building some big truth on them.
There’s a story (all right, a very corny story) of a man who wanted to know God’s will. So he prayed, closed his eyes, opened his Bible, and stuck his finger on the page. On opening his eyes he saw that the verse he had picked out said “Judas went out and hanged himself”. Deciding that, ahem, something must have gone a bit wrong, he repeated the exercise: this time he came up with “Go, and do thou likewise”. How the story ended I don’t know...
The Bible can be made to mean just about anything if we abuse it. So as a general rule we should always set Bible verses in context, and let them speak to us on their own terms, taking them in as natural a sense as possible. (A word there not least for us preachers?)
But I am now going to break that rule. Why? Because there are some verses which, while of course they do indeed belong to a particular context, also capture a truth which is pretty well universal. And 2 Chronicles 20:12 is one such.
Background...
Jehoshaphat is one of the good, godly kings of Judah. But he and his people are in serious trouble; they are under attack from “the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites... a vast army” (verses 1-2). Jehoshaphat is “alarmed” (verse 3), so he does the right thing: he calls the people to pray and fast. He then offers a public prayer to God (verses 6-12) - a prayer which ends with these gloriously simple words, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
See what I mean about some verses being universally applicable? Haven’t we all, at some point in our lives, spoken at least the first half of that sentence: “I don’t know what to do!” (Hopefully we have also gone on with the rest!) We, in our little lives in 2018, could hardly be more remote from King Jehoshaphat, caught up in a major geopolitical conflict in the middle east some 850 years before Jesus. But boy, don’t his words resonate with us!
I wouldn’t mind betting (except, of course, that I don’t bet) that somebody reading this is in exactly Jehoshaphat’s shoes: you simply don’t know what to do.
Perhaps it’s a matter of work or career; should you go for a particular job? Perhaps it’s a personal matter; where do you want a particular relationship to go? Perhaps it’s an awkward situation; how do you handle a seriously unwelcome responsibility? It may be a major crisis: a serious illness; bad family news; financial problems; you name it. The possibilities are literally endless.
For Jehoshaphat the answer to the dilemma came quite quickly - “tomorrow” in fact (verse 16). (You can read about the reassuring words of the prophet Jahaziel son of Zechariah, and then how the critical episode was resolved, by reading down to verse 30.)
It is, I think, rarely like that for us. For us it may be very different - days, weeks, sometimes even years. But the great, universal truth is clear: God does hear the cry of his people; he does answer their prayers. If not, then (dare I say it?) God is a liar, for the Bible is full of this promise.
I’ve focussed on the first part of that snippet from Jehoshaphat’s prayer: “We don’t know what to do”. But of course we need to notice the second part too: “but our eyes are on you.”
This is where good King Jehoshaphat stands as an example to men and women of faith in every generation, 2018 AD as well as 850 BC: he looked to God and, however dire the situation seemed to be, he kept his trust in him. Easier said than done, of course. But by God’s grace, and with the support of praying friends, it can be done.
The hymn-writer George Matheson (1842-1906) wrote the magnificent hymn “O love that will not let me go”. It contains this radiant verse: “O Joy that seekest me through pain,/ I cannot close my heart to Thee;/ I trace the rainbow through the rain,/ And feel the promise is not vain/ That morn shall tearless be.”
Are the words “I don’t know what to do!” your testimony today? Then, as you keep your eyes fixed on him, may it not be long before you too can “trace the rainbow through the rain”.
Amen!
Heavenly Father, when I’m confused, torn between different options, out of my depth, tempted to anxiety and even despair, please help me to keep my eyes fixed not on the problem but on you. And so bring me, in your good time, to the same place as Jehoshaphat so long ago - at peace, secure in you, and delighting in your answer to my prayer. Amen.
It’s a vital principle of Bible reading that we should be very careful about pulling a single verse or two out of their context and building some big truth on them.
There’s a story (all right, a very corny story) of a man who wanted to know God’s will. So he prayed, closed his eyes, opened his Bible, and stuck his finger on the page. On opening his eyes he saw that the verse he had picked out said “Judas went out and hanged himself”. Deciding that, ahem, something must have gone a bit wrong, he repeated the exercise: this time he came up with “Go, and do thou likewise”. How the story ended I don’t know...
The Bible can be made to mean just about anything if we abuse it. So as a general rule we should always set Bible verses in context, and let them speak to us on their own terms, taking them in as natural a sense as possible. (A word there not least for us preachers?)
But I am now going to break that rule. Why? Because there are some verses which, while of course they do indeed belong to a particular context, also capture a truth which is pretty well universal. And 2 Chronicles 20:12 is one such.
Background...
Jehoshaphat is one of the good, godly kings of Judah. But he and his people are in serious trouble; they are under attack from “the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites... a vast army” (verses 1-2). Jehoshaphat is “alarmed” (verse 3), so he does the right thing: he calls the people to pray and fast. He then offers a public prayer to God (verses 6-12) - a prayer which ends with these gloriously simple words, “We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
See what I mean about some verses being universally applicable? Haven’t we all, at some point in our lives, spoken at least the first half of that sentence: “I don’t know what to do!” (Hopefully we have also gone on with the rest!) We, in our little lives in 2018, could hardly be more remote from King Jehoshaphat, caught up in a major geopolitical conflict in the middle east some 850 years before Jesus. But boy, don’t his words resonate with us!
I wouldn’t mind betting (except, of course, that I don’t bet) that somebody reading this is in exactly Jehoshaphat’s shoes: you simply don’t know what to do.
Perhaps it’s a matter of work or career; should you go for a particular job? Perhaps it’s a personal matter; where do you want a particular relationship to go? Perhaps it’s an awkward situation; how do you handle a seriously unwelcome responsibility? It may be a major crisis: a serious illness; bad family news; financial problems; you name it. The possibilities are literally endless.
For Jehoshaphat the answer to the dilemma came quite quickly - “tomorrow” in fact (verse 16). (You can read about the reassuring words of the prophet Jahaziel son of Zechariah, and then how the critical episode was resolved, by reading down to verse 30.)
It is, I think, rarely like that for us. For us it may be very different - days, weeks, sometimes even years. But the great, universal truth is clear: God does hear the cry of his people; he does answer their prayers. If not, then (dare I say it?) God is a liar, for the Bible is full of this promise.
I’ve focussed on the first part of that snippet from Jehoshaphat’s prayer: “We don’t know what to do”. But of course we need to notice the second part too: “but our eyes are on you.”
This is where good King Jehoshaphat stands as an example to men and women of faith in every generation, 2018 AD as well as 850 BC: he looked to God and, however dire the situation seemed to be, he kept his trust in him. Easier said than done, of course. But by God’s grace, and with the support of praying friends, it can be done.
The hymn-writer George Matheson (1842-1906) wrote the magnificent hymn “O love that will not let me go”. It contains this radiant verse: “O Joy that seekest me through pain,/ I cannot close my heart to Thee;/ I trace the rainbow through the rain,/ And feel the promise is not vain/ That morn shall tearless be.”
Are the words “I don’t know what to do!” your testimony today? Then, as you keep your eyes fixed on him, may it not be long before you too can “trace the rainbow through the rain”.
Amen!
Heavenly Father, when I’m confused, torn between different options, out of my depth, tempted to anxiety and even despair, please help me to keep my eyes fixed not on the problem but on you. And so bring me, in your good time, to the same place as Jehoshaphat so long ago - at peace, secure in you, and delighting in your answer to my prayer. Amen.
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