Look Up

We are powerless against this mighty army that is about to attack us. We do not know what to do, but we are looking to you for help.

2 Chronicles 20:12

Because God is faithful to his promises, all we need to do in times of trouble or confusion is turn to him.

He helps us understand our circumstances from his perspective.

Earth’s view gives only a vague outline and offers only a linear perspective. The earthbound point of view is like an artist’s ébauche. An ébauche is the initial underpainting that establishes the broad lines of emphasis in a projected painting. It is unfinished. It is a rough outline, meant only to establish the painting’s basic components. If you did not wait to see the finished work and walked away having seen only the ébauche, you would never truly see the painting. The finished work exists only in the mind of the artist.

In the reading for today, Jehoshaphat was not anticipating the attack that was looming on his horizon. Yet God had allowed the event in order to put his power on display and to cause faith to grow in his people.

Scripture first defines the earthbound view—the ébauche—of Judah’s situation: “A vast army . . . is marching against you” (20:2). Jehoshaphat understood that this dire description of the facts did not constitute the whole of reality. He was alarmed, but that alarm pushed him to seek God. He inquired of the Lord rather than take facts at face value. He knew God had something to impart to him that would give him direction.

The painting of your life story is already completed in God’s mind. The circumstances on earth are only an outline, alerting you to areas where God is going to complete the picture with his power. Don’t mistake an ébauche for a finished work of art.

Lord, I do not know what to do, but I am looking to you for help.

God has wisely kept us in the dark concerning future events and reserved for himself the knowledge of them, that he may train us up in a dependence upon himself and a continued readiness for every event.

Matthew Henry(1662–1714), English pastor and Bible commentator