King Jehoshaphat's Prayer

After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, "A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar" (that is, Engedi). Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the LORD; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the LORD.

And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the LORD, before the new court, and said, "O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, 'If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you— for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.' And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy— behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you." --2 Chronicles 20:1-12

In Jehoshaphat's mind, he and the people that he was leading were on the verge of invasion and disaster. There was no appearance of a way out. There were no words slick enough to change the opposing armies' minds. There were no actions that could be taken to appease their enemies. There was not enough strength to defeat those who were coming after them. There was no way to win!

As these thoughts passed through the mind of the king, he turned to his God. Where else had he to turn? Read again these words that were prayed by the king aloud in front of his people: "We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you". Imagine if we turned on the TV and heard the president of the United States pray these words. What humility! What a confidence in God. What faith! What a moment of true leadership! In a time where disaster and defeat were at the door and ready to crush all hope, the king of Judah turned to the King of the universe in faith.

What can we take away from Jehoshaphat's circumstance and response? Have you ever prayed "I do not know what to do, but my eyes are on you"? This seems like a simple prayer. Yet this is a self-confidence abandoning, pride-dissolving, heart-rearranging prayer. Maybe this prayer is not so simple. No one enjoys admitting that they don't know what to do. Yet in this story a king prays before his people these very words as he, in faith, throws himself upon the mercy of the Maker.

Do we have this kind of faith? Do we trust our Father this much? Do we have this kind of humility? Would we dare to pray this prayer? Would we dare to pray this prayer in front of others? Would we dare to pray this prayer before those whom we are responsible for or leading? Do we have this kind of confidence in God?

As the story progresses, we see that God chose to honor the king's prayer. As the king led his army to battle, trusting his Lord, the Bible tells us that God set an ambush for his enemies and that they were miraculously defeated. The king and his people gathered all the spoil and returned home. God's Word says that they had joy and rejoiced because of God's great victory.

This story from 2 Chronicles is a wonderful picture of our Sovereign Creator. Our God rules over all kingdoms. Our God has such power and might in his hand that none is able to withstand him. Our God is the God of Heaven and he does all that he pleases. How could we not, as the king of Judah did, fix our eyes on him? Jehoshaphat humbled himself before the Lord and the Lord raised him up and gave him the victory. It is impossible to pray a prayer like this when pride and self-confidence are too strong in our hearts. It is impossible to deal with pride appropriately without first kneeling in submission at the the foot of the cross. May we submit our hearts in humility to the one who humbled himself to the point of death, even death on the cross that we might live. Let us follow this example given to us and abandon any inappropriate faith, confidence, or reliance that rests on anything or anyone other than the matchless King of kings and Lord of lords.