We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.” — 2 Chronicles 20:12 (NIV)
It is one of the most disarmingly honest prayers in all of scripture, and it came from a king. A vast alliance of three nations had mobilised against Jehoshaphat. The intelligence report was overwhelming: a great multitude is coming against you. The military calculus was clear. Judah was outnumbered, outresourced, and facing a coalition that had never been assembled against them before. Any leader in that situation would have been justified in reaching for every strategic tool available. Jehoshaphat reached for none of them first. He proclaimed a fast throughout Judah and stood before the assembly and prayed.
What he did not say in that prayer is almost as significant as what he did say. He did not remind God of his military prowess. He did not present a plan for God to bless. He did not spiritualise a strategy he had already decided on. He said: we have no power, we do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. That prayer is the theological opposite of a leader who brings God into a plan they have already formed. It is a leader who comes to God before the plan exists, with empty hands and open eyes, and waits.
The response was immediate and complete. The Spirit of God came upon a Levite named Jahaziel in the middle of the assembly and delivered the battle plan: you will not need to fight in this battle. Go down to the battle and stand firm. See the salvation of the Lord on your behalf. The plan was not formed in the war room. It was delivered in the prayer meeting. And it was available only because the king had created space for it by refusing to lead with his own resources.
What followed is one of the most unusual military victories in the Old Testament. Jehoshaphat put the singers at the front of the army. Not the cavalry. Not the elite troops. The worshippers. As they sang praise to God, the enemy coalition turned on each other and destroyed themselves before Judah arrived at the battlefield. The people of Judah spent three days collecting the plunder. It took longer to gather the spoils than it had taken God to win the war.
The principle here is not that leaders should avoid strategy or be passive in the face of threats. Jehoshaphat was a capable administrator who had built up Judah’s defences effectively during peace. The principle is that the most sophisticated strategy conceived without first hearing from God is always less powerful than the simplest instruction received in the place of prayer. The leader who prays as Jehoshaphat prayed will always find that God steps into the gap that humility creates.
Today, bring the most pressing challenge in your sphere of governance to God before you bring it to your team, your strategy, or your own experience. Sit with it in prayer long enough to actually listen. You may not hear an audible voice, but you will find that something shifts when you lead with the posture of “I do not know what to do, but my eyes are on you.”
Prayer
Father, teach me to pray before I plan. Where I have been leading with strategy and adding prayer as a footnote, reverse the order. I bring you my most pressing challenge today and I say honestly: I do not know what to do. But my eyes are on you. In Jesus’ name, amen.
