The Logic of a Godly Panic: Jehoshaphat's Prayer Text: 2 Chronicles 20:5-13
Introduction: When the Barbarians Are at the Gates
We live in an age of manufactured panic and genuine crisis. The world knows how to panic, but it has forgotten how to pray. When the barbarians are at the gates, the modern response is to form a committee, issue a press release, or descend into a frantic, godless activism that is really just whistling past the graveyard. The secularist has two options when faced with an overwhelming threat: nihilistic despair or utopian delusion. Both are dead ends.
The modern church, sadly, has often followed suit. We have adopted the world's therapeutic techniques, offering shallow reassurances and sentimental platitudes when what is needed is the blast of a trumpet. We are told to manage our anxiety, not to bring our righteous case before the Judge of all the earth. We have been taught to pray quiet, personal, pietistic prayers, but we have forgotten the art of public, corporate, covenantal warfare prayer.
In this passage, King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah are facing an existential threat. A vast, multinational army is coming to wipe them off the map. Their response is not to consult their generals first, or their therapists, or their pollsters. Their response is to panic. But it is a godly panic. It is a panic that drives them, not into a corner, but into the temple courts. It is a desperation that leads them not to abandon logic, but to engage in the highest form of logic: theological argument with God Himself. Jehoshaphat's prayer is not a desperate, sentimental plea. It is a covenant lawsuit. It is a brilliant, structured, legal appeal, presented before the bar of heaven. This is the script for a nation in crisis. This is the battle plan for a church under siege.
The Text
Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of Yahweh before the new court, and he said, "O Yahweh, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can take their stand against You. Did You not, O our God, dispossess the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it to the seed of Abraham Your friend forever? And they have lived in it, and have built You a sanctuary there for Your name, saying, 'Should evil come upon us, the sword, or judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before You (for Your name is in this house) and cry to You in our distress, and You will hear and save us.' So now, behold, the sons of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom You did not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt (they turned aside from them and did not destroy them), and behold, they are rewarding us by coming to drive us out from Your possession which You have caused us to possess. O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; and we do not know what we should do, but our eyes are on You."
Now all Judah was standing before Yahweh, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.
(2 Chronicles 20:5-13 LSB)
The Theological Foundation (vv. 5-6)
Jehoshaphat begins his prayer not with the problem, but with the God who is bigger than the problem.
"O Yahweh, the God of our fathers, are You not God in the heavens? And are You not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations? Power and might are in Your hand so that no one can take their stand against You." (2 Chronicles 20:6 LSB)
This is where all sane praying must begin. It is a presuppositional argument. He is not asking God to become something He is not. He is reminding God, and all the people of Judah, of who God has already revealed Himself to be. He starts with covenant history: "the God of our fathers." This is not some generic deity; this is the God who has a name and a people. Then he moves to God's absolute sovereignty. "Are you not God in the heavens?" This establishes His transcendence. He is above it all. "Are you not ruler over all the kingdoms of the nations?" This establishes His immanent rule. He is in it all. And notice, He rules the very nations that are currently marching on Jerusalem. They are not rogue agents. They are, whether they know it or not, on God's leash.
This is a direct assault on the pagan mindset, which saw the world as a battleground of competing, limited deities. Jehoshaphat declares that there is only one throne, and Yahweh sits on it. This is the foundation of Christian confidence. Our God is not the tribal deity of the Christians. He is the ruler of all the kingdoms of the nations, including the secular, hostile, and atheistic ones. When we pray, we are not asking a third party to intervene. We are appealing to the King who owns the whole board.
The Covenantal Argument (vv. 7-9)
Having established God's character, Jehoshaphat moves to God's binding promises. He puts God's own Word on the witness stand.
"Did You not, O our God, dispossess the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel and give it to the seed of Abraham Your friend forever? And they have lived in it, and have built You a sanctuary there for Your name, saying, 'Should evil come upon us... we will stand before this house and before You... and cry to You in our distress, and You will hear and save us.'" (2 Chronicles 20:7-9 LSB)
This is brilliant. He makes two points. First, he appeals to the Abrahamic Covenant. This land is not theirs by right of conquest, but by right of divine gift. "You gave it to the seed of Abraham Your friend forever." This is a permanent grant, an eternal deed. An attack on Judah's land is therefore a challenge to the integrity of God's sworn oath to His friend Abraham. He is asking God to be a faithful friend.
Second, he appeals to the covenant established at the dedication of the Temple. He is essentially quoting Solomon's prayer from 1 Kings 8. He says, "We built this house for Your name, just as You commanded. And at the dedication, it was established as the place where we should come when we are in exactly this kind of trouble. We were told to stand here and cry out, and You promised to hear and save. We are now doing our part of the deal. We are standing, we are crying out. Now, Lord, it is Your move." This is not arrogance. This is profound faith. It is the faith that takes God at His Word and holds Him to it. God is honored when we trust His promises enough to remind Him of them.
The Righteous Indictment (vv. 10-11)
Next, Jehoshaphat lays out the facts of the case, highlighting the gross injustice of the situation.
"So now, behold, the sons of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom You did not let Israel invade... behold, they are rewarding us by coming to drive us out from Your possession which You have caused us to possess." (2 Chronicles 20:10-11 LSB)
This is a masterstroke of rhetoric. He reminds God that Israel, on God's specific orders in Deuteronomy 2, showed mercy and restraint to these very peoples during the wilderness wanderings. Israel obeyed. And now, that past obedience is being repaid with treachery and violence. There is a deep injustice here, and Jehoshaphat knows that the Judge of all the earth will do right.
But notice the most important phrase: "to drive us out from Your possession." He doesn't say "our possession." He says "Your possession." This elevates the conflict entirely. This is not a mere border dispute. This is an attack on God's property. It is an attempt to undo God's work and nullify God's gift. By framing it this way, Jehoshaphat makes God's reputation and honor the central issue. The question is no longer "Will Judah survive?" but rather "Will Yahweh defend His own name and His own land?" This is the heart of praying in Jesus' name: seeking God's glory above our own interests.
The Desperate Declaration (vv. 12-13)
The prayer reaches its climax in a confession of utter weakness and a declaration of total dependence.
"O our God, will You not judge them? For we are powerless before this great multitude who are coming against us; and we do not know what we should do, but our eyes are on You." (2 Chronicles 20:12 LSB)
After laying out the theological, covenantal, and judicial basis for his appeal, he asks the direct question: "Will You not judge them?" This is a plea for divine justice. And it is grounded in the frank admission of reality. "We are powerless." There is no strength left. "We do not know what we should do." There is no strategy left. All human resources, both physical and intellectual, have been exhausted.
This is the point of true faith. It is not a leap in the dark; it is a step into the light when all other paths are blocked. "But our eyes are on You." This is the great pivot. It is the conscious turning away from the terrifying multitude and the empty cupboards of human ingenuity, and the fixing of the gaze upon the sovereign God of heaven. This is not resignation; it is the most potent form of resistance. It is the declaration that our help comes not from our own hands, but from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
And who is standing there? Not just the king and the soldiers. Verse 13 gives us the beautiful and crucial picture:
"Now all Judah was standing before Yahweh, with their little ones, their wives, and their children." (2 Chronicles 20:13 LSB)
This is a covenant community. This is federal faith. The threat was against the whole nation, and the response was from the whole nation. The men did not send their wives and children home to hide. They brought them to the front lines of the spiritual battle. They were teaching their children, by example, what to do when the world is ending. You stand together, before your God, and you put your eyes on Him. This is the catechism of crisis.
Conclusion: Our Eyes on Jesus
This prayer is a model for the church in every age, but it finds its ultimate meaning and power in the Lord Jesus Christ. We too face a great multitude: the unholy trinity of the world, the flesh, and the devil. We too are powerless. We too do not know what to do. Our sin is a treacherous enemy, rewarding God's goodness with rebellion.
But we have a greater King than Jehoshaphat, and a greater Temple than Solomon's. Jesus Christ, our great high priest, stood in the assembly of heaven and earth and made His appeal. He appealed to the Father's covenant promises. He stood against the injustice of our sin, and took the judgment for it upon Himself. On the cross, He was made utterly powerless, crying out in the darkness, so that we might be saved.
Because of His finished work, we can now come before the throne of grace with confidence. Our prayer is not based on our past obedience, but on His perfect obedience. Our appeal is not based on our possession of a piece of land, but on our possession by God Himself, having been bought with the blood of His Son. We are His possession.
Therefore, when the enemy comes in like a flood, when the culture rages, when our own hearts fail us, we know what to do. We gather with our families, with our brothers and sisters in the church, and we stand before our God. We confess our utter bankruptcy. We admit we have no power and no plan. And then we make the great declaration of faith that routs every demon in hell: "But our eyes are on You." Our eyes are on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And He has never lost a battle yet.