We Do Not Know What To Do

Rock/Water Apparel

Sep 13

12 min read

The messengers came in fast, and what they said did not leave much room for comfort.

A vast army was coming against Judah, a coalition moving toward Jerusalem, and the threat was no longer distant. They had already reached En Gedi. Jehoshaphat was alarmed, and Scripture says so without embarrassment. He was the king. He had an army, fortified cities, commanders, and every resource a small kingdom could field. He looked at what was coming and understood that his own strength was not enough.

So he did something remarkable for a man in charge. He called a fast. Not first a speech about how everything would be fine. Not a public display of confidence.

Judah gathered to seek the Lord, and the text specifically mentions men, women, and children standing together before God.

Then Jehoshaphat prayed.

He rehearsed who God was. He remembered what God had done. He laid out the threat plainly. These people were coming against the land God had given them.

Then he came to the end of what he could say.

Our God, will you not judge them? For 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

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

There is something striking about hearing those words from a king. He does not pretend to know more than he knows. He does not disguise a strategy as a prayer. He does not offer everyone a religious version of false reassurance.

He tells the truth: We do not know what to do.

But notice that Jehoshaphat is not without confidence. His confidence has simply moved. He is no longer placing his weight on the strength of Judah or his own ability to solve the problem. His prayer is filled with confidence in the character, power, and faithfulness of God.

That is often where faith becomes clearest: when confidence in ourselves runs out and our confidence has nowhere left to rest but God.

Spread It Out Before the Lord

Generations later, another king of Judah received a letter. The Assyrian king Sennacherib had devastated much of Judah. His officials stood outside Jerusalem and deliberately spoke loudly enough for the people on the wall to hear them.

Don't trust Hezekiah. Don't trust your God. The gods of the other nations could not save them. Why would yours be different?

Then the threats came in writing. Here is what Hezekiah did.

Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. - 2 Kings 19:14

He went to the temple of the Lord and spread the letter out before the Lord.

That is an interesting gesture. He did not merely say, Lord, I'm having a difficult week. He brought the threat itself into his prayer. The actual letter. The actual words. The thing that had been keeping him awake.

And then he prayed.

He acknowledged what the Assyrians had done. Their victories were real. Their armies were real. The cities they had destroyed were real.

But the gods they had burned were not God. They were wood and stone made by human hands.

Hezekiah's prayer was essentially this: Lord, this enemy has mocked you. Save us so that the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are God.

There is a lesson in that. Sometimes we give God the summary because the summary is easier.

I'm stressed.

Things are difficult.

I'm worried about money.

My family is struggling.

But sometimes it helps to spread the thing itself before the Lord.

The diagnosis.

The overdue notice.

The email.

The application.

The number at the bottom of the bank statement.

The conversation you keep replaying in your head.

God already knows what is written there. The point is not to give Him information.

The point is to stop carrying it as though you are the only one who sees it. Whatever you are carrying this week, bring the actual thing into your prayer. Not just the tidy version.

When Nothing Around You Has Changed Yet

Not every crisis looks like an army. Some are quieter. Some last for years.

Hannah wanted a child and did not have one. Year after year, the same household. The same grief. The same painful comparison. The same provoking from Peninnah. The same trip to worship. The same tears.

Her husband loved her, but even love could not fix what was hurting her. So Hannah went before the Lord and prayed.

Not politely. Not carefully composed. She prayed so intensely that Eli the priest saw her lips moving without sound and assumed she was drunk.

When he confronted her, she said:

“Not so, my lord,” Hannah replied, “I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the Lord. Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.” - 1 Samuel 1:15–16

I was pouring out my soul to the Lord.

Eli blessed her and sent her away. Then comes a small detail that is easy to miss:

She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then she went her way and ate something, and her face was no longer downcast. - 1 Samuel 1:18

She went away, ate something, and her face was no longer downcast.

Read the sequence carefully. She did not yet have a child. The situation she had brought into prayer had not yet changed. What changed first was Hannah.

That does not mean prayer is merely psychological relief. Hannah's story eventually moves toward God's gracious answer. But the text shows us something important before that answer arrives.

Sometimes the first visible evidence of God's work is not a changed circumstance but a changed ability to stand inside it. Some of us assume that if the situation has not changed, prayer has done nothing.

Hannah's face tells another story.

What the Servant Couldn't See

Elisha's servant woke up one morning, stepped outside, and found the city surrounded. Horses. Chariots. An enemy army sent specifically to capture Elisha.

The servant saw the situation and asked the obvious question.

When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked. - 2 Kings 6:15

What shall we do? Elisha answered: Don't be afraid. Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

From the servant's perspective, that probably sounded detached from reality. He had counted. He could see the enemy.

Then Elisha prayed.

Notice what he asked God to do. He did not first ask for the army to disappear. He asked for the servant to see.

And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. - 2 Kings 6:17

Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.

And suddenly the servant saw the hills filled with horses and chariots of fire. The military situation had not yet changed. What changed first was what the servant could perceive.

The help of God had been there while he was sleeping. It had been there while he was panicking. It had been there when he thought he had already accounted for every force involved. He had not.

That is worth remembering. We are very good at doing the math with what we can see.

The bank account.

The medical report.

The available options.

The people opposing us.

The resources we have.

And then we arrive at a conclusion that feels completely rational.

Sometimes it is. But sometimes, like Elisha's servant, we think we have the complete picture when we are actually working only with what is visible.

So perhaps one of our prayers should sometimes be:

Open my eyes.

Not necessarily because God is going to show us angels surrounding the house. But because fear has a way of narrowing reality until the problem becomes the only thing we can see.

And Then You Go Anyway

Sometimes you seek God and the answer is not immediate rescue. Sometimes there is simply a door you have to walk through.

Esther was queen, but her position did not make her safe.

The law was clear: anyone who entered the king's presence without being summoned could be put to death unless the king extended his golden scepter. Esther had not been summoned for thirty days.

Then Mordecai sent word.

He sent back this answer: “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” - Esther 4:13–14

Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?

Esther understood what was being asked of her. And she did not respond with certainty about how it would end.

“Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.” - Esther 4:16

She called the Jews to fast for three days. She and her attendants would fast as well. Then she would go.

And if I perish, I perish.

That sentence matters.

Esther does not say:

God will definitely keep me alive.

She does not say:

I know what will happen.

She does not confuse faith with certainty about the outcome. She fasts. She acts. She takes the next faithful step available to her.

Sometimes that is what trusting God looks like. Not knowing how the entire story ends. Knowing only what obedience requires next.

God Has Not Left Us Without Wisdom

Admitting that we do not know what to do does not mean abandoning thought, planning, wisdom, or responsibility.

Scripture repeatedly tells us to seek God's instruction.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. Psalm 32:8

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5–6

Lean not on your own understanding.

That does not mean:

Don't think.

Don't plan.

Don't ask questions.

Don't seek counsel.

It means do not place the full weight of your trust on your own interpretation of events.

We are limited.

We miss things.

We misunderstand motives.

We cannot see the future.

And sometimes, like Elisha's servant, we think we have the complete picture when we do not.

Isaiah gives another picture of God's instruction:

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” - Isaiah 30:21

The image is not of God's people abandoned to discover the road for themselves. It is of God faithfully directing His people in the way they should walk.

Scripture does not promise that every believer will receive a detailed map of every decision in advance. Often God's guidance comes through what He has already revealed in Scripture, through wisdom, prayer, mature counsel, providence, and the responsibilities already placed in front of us.

Sometimes we desperately want God to explain the next ten miles. He gives enough light for the next faithful step.

This Is Not a Technique

Now we have to return to Jehoshaphat. Because if we stop the story too early, we can accidentally turn 2 Chronicles 20 into a formula.

Jehoshaphat prays. The Spirit of the Lord comes upon Jahaziel, a Levite in the assembly. Judah is told that the battle belongs to God. They march toward the enemy, with singers praising the Lord at the front.

By the time Judah reaches the lookout point, the enemy coalition has turned on itself. There is no battle left to fight.

Judah gathers the spoil. The kingdom experiences peace. It is an extraordinary deliverance.

And then the Chronicler places another episode almost beside it.

Later, Jehoshaphat king of Judah made an alliance with Ahaziah king of Israel, whose ways were wicked. He agreed with him to construct a fleet of trading ships. After these were built at Ezion Geber, Eliezer son of Dodavahu of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you have made an alliance with Ahaziah, the Lord will destroy what you have made.” The ships were wrecked and were not able to set sail to trade. - 2 Chronicles 20:35–37

Jehoshaphat allies himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, a king the text explicitly describes as wicked. Together they build ships. A prophet confronts Jehoshaphat and tells him that because of the alliance, what they built will be destroyed. The ships are then wrecked.

Same king.

Same chapter.

That matters.

The king who had shown remarkable dependence upon God could still make a disastrous decision later.

Why? Because prayer is not a technique.

There is no combination of words that guarantees good judgment forever. One dramatic moment of dependence does not mean you will never make another foolish choice.

You still need wisdom tomorrow.

You still need obedience tomorrow.

You still need humility tomorrow.

You still need to seek God tomorrow.

The first half of the chapter gives us encouragement. The end gives us a guardrail.

Both belong there.

Where This Lands

Run the thread back through all of these stories.

Jehoshaphat admits he has no plan.

Hezekiah spreads the threatening letter before the Lord.

Hannah pours out her soul with nothing yet resolved.

Elisha's servant discovers that what he can see is not everything that is real.

Esther fasts and walks through a door without a guarantee.

None of them begins with confidence in his or her ability to control the outcome.

Again and again, Scripture brings people to the end of self-sufficiency. And the end of self-sufficiency is not the end of faith. It is often where dependence on God becomes clearest. There is an older scene that captures the same posture.

Israel stands at the Red Sea.

The sea is in front of them.

Pharaoh's army is behind them.

There is nowhere obvious to go.

And Moses says:

The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still. - Exodus 14:14

The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.

Jehoshaphat's father Asa had once stood before another overwhelming army and prayed in the same spirit:

Then Asa called to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. Lord, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against you.” - 2 Chronicles 14:11

We rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army.

The similarity between father and son is striking. Asa had once faced impossible numbers and confessed his dependence on God. Later, when Jehoshaphat faced his own impossible numbers, his prayer carried the same posture:

We cannot do this ourselves.

We are looking to you.

That is a spiritual inheritance worth noticing.

But Even If He Does Not

I would be doing you a disservice if I ended with stories of miraculous deliverance, because your story may not resolve the way Jehoshaphat's did.

The army may not turn on itself.

The letter may not disappear.

The diagnosis may remain.

The relationship may not be restored.

The door may still close.

The person you prayed for may still die.

Faith cannot depend on receiving the outcome we asked for.

So the final word belongs to three young men standing in front of a furnace.

Nebuchadnezzar gives Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego one final opportunity to bow. They refuse.

And they say:

If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” - Daniel 3:17–18

Their God is able to deliver them. They know that. They believe that. And then comes the sentence that keeps every other story in this article honest:

But even if he does not...

They will not bow.

That is mature faith.

Not: God will do exactly what I want.

Not: If I believe strongly enough, everything will turn out well.

Not: If the result is painful, God failed me.

Their faithfulness is not contingent upon the outcome. God is able.

But even if He does not rescue them from the furnace, He is still God.

And obedience is still obedience. So stand anyway.

Tell the truth when lying would be easier. Keep your promise when breaking it would benefit you.

Show up for the people who depend on you. Forgive when resentment feels more satisfying.

Refuse to bow to the thing everyone else in the room has already accepted.

Do what is right, not because you have been guaranteed an ending you will like, but because God is worthy of obedience whether or not He gives you the ending you requested.

You may reach a place where you genuinely do not know what to do. You may have prayed, planned, asked for counsel, examined every option, and still find yourself standing there with no obvious answer.

Say so. Jehoshaphat did.

We do not know what to do.

But he did not stop there.

Our eyes are on you.

Maybe that is enough of a prayer for today. You do not have to pretend you know the road. You only have to know where to look.

Rock/Water Apparel is named after one of God's most unlikely acts of provision—water from a rock in the wilderness (Exodus 17:6). In the hardest places, God provides. And sometimes what He provides is exactly what your heart needs most: a reason to laugh.

Visit us at rockwaterapparel.com and wear the mission.

God Provides.

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