What to Do When You Don't Know What to Do...

"We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You." 

2 Chronicles 20:12, this verse that comes in the middle of the unknown, the fear, the grasping at straws for the next move. This verse that is uttered out of the mouth of King Jehoshaphat, who's country is on the brink of war, outnumbered by a pagan, demonized military advancement. The Moabites and Ammonites had encamped around Judah. They set up camp as a military strategy. As they camped, they slowly moved into Judah, with all of their pagan practices and worship of other guys. Their strategy was to cause the Israelites to slowly compromise their commitment to God, the one true God. As they moved in, Judah was pushed to shift and lower standards to accommodate pagan standards. They were pushed to comply with the world - it's points of view, it's way of living, it's way of worship, it's fearful/human response to life in general. To comply. To panic. 

In the middle of this comes 2 Chronicles 20:12. "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on You." 

There's much being said in these 13 words. Jehoshaphat is expressing much of the state of His heart and mind here. He's expressing fear...desperation...lack of direction...lack of provision, maybe. He feels hemmed in. Backed into a corner. He's also expressing his understanding of where help comes from. Two sides are presented here - PANIC or TRUST. RUSH or WAIT. HUMAN LOGIC or GOD'S WISDOM. 

This is one of my favorite stories in all of Scripture. All of Judah, the men, the wives, the little ones (vs 13) stood before the Lord and they waited. They waited. They didn't move. They didn't solve. They were still before the presence of God, all the while the enemy was advancing, closing in. They had the staying power to not move from God's presence, to stay paused until the Lord gave His direction and solutions. This waiting goes against every fiber of our fleshly bodies! Human nature is to panic, to solve, to fix, to fight or flight in the face of hardship, pressing, in the face of uncertainty, or those situations where nothing in our power can fix it. 

But God. God is not panicked by our panic. He is still. He IS. 

In the middle of this waiting, the Spirit of the Lord comes upon a Levite, a son of Asaph, Zechariah. God tells Judah, "Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde for the battle is not yours but God's. Here are My marching orders..."  (vs 13-17)

And they worshiped. They bowed their heads down before God and worshiped. While the enemy was still coming, while the problem was yet fixed...they worshiped. LOUDLY...with a very loud voice (vs 19). And they began to thank God BEFORE the solution came, "Give thanks to the Lord, for His steadfast love endures forever." While they worshiped, God turned the Moabites and the Ammonites against each other and they destroyed one another. When Judah rose and moved toward the battlefield they found the ground stained from the dead bodies of their enemies. 

This story slays the pressures of the urgent. What feels urgent to us does not rush God. Our culture lives from one problem to the next, one solution to the next need for a solution. This is not meant to minimize our struggles, fears, or pain. But what or WHO are we driven by? Our flesh is so weakly and easily driven by circumstances, problems, lack of this or that and the fear that creates. Our flesh is consumed by these things. Paul writes about this in his letter to the Romans:

          "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but the set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace...For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons and daughters of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons and daughters, by who we cry, 'ABBA! FATHER!'"  (Romans 8)

This is on my heart greatly. What is driving me? my flesh or the Spirit? The course for one is fear and death. The alternate course is life and peace. Are you in a situation where it seems that the enemy, the world, burdens have you hemmed in, backed into a corner? Maybe you're facing a situation where you have no answer? Today will you choose to stop the panic, choose to stop the impulse to solve and fix, the rush to make it go away? Today will you speak 13 little words?  

"I do not know what to do, but my eyes are fixed on You." 

Watch. Listen. See what He will do.