Fear, Seek, Fast

Dear brethren,
Today's readings:

2Chronicles 19,20; 2Kings 1; Psalm 20; Matthew 3

2 Chronicles 20:3 (KJV)
And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

In spite of his alliance with Israel, Jehoshaphat was largely a godly king. And is manifest here in particular in the manner he handled matters.
1) Fear
We can take it from 2 angles - fear of the challenges or fear of the Lord. It is no shame to be afraid at times. Because the correct type of fear is the emotionl aspect of humility and the  opposite of haughtiness. Fear of the Lord really means complete reverence and obedience to Him. So from any angle, the important thing here is what that fear motivates us to do, as opposed to the crippling, mortal fear of hopelessness (c.f. 2Ti 1:7). Christians of all people should be full of hope! We are in fact  beacons of the hope that God has given us through Christ. And our confidence is rooted in the promises given by God and the godly fear of not performing up to par even as God has given us individually the ability to be.

2) set himself to seek the Lord
It is a conscious, active and personal decision to continually render our obedience. No one can do it on our behalf! Neither can we blame anyone for our own failings. We need to set out minds and focus right and be diligent to search out His ways, instead of trying to do things our way.

3) Fast
Literally in the passage. Fasting done right, has been shown to sharpen the senses, improve mental acuity and physical performance. Perhaps it is in this state that the hungry hunter is best able to get his food! And it is also in this state that we get a better realisation and appreciation of the providence and goodness of God (c.f. 2Co 12:9-10).
But the whole idea is about putting things into action. No use thinking about it, preparing about it and not doing anything about it! Notice that even though in this particular instance, the Israelites physically  did nothing to effect a complete victory, yet that didn't mean they didn't do anything at all! (v. 16,17) And of course we need to bear in mind this was a miraculous act of God to drive home the point of the importance of wholly depending on God.
And this is the precise analogy to our salvation - their is nothing that we do that directly creates the instrument of our salvation - it is the gift of God. But what we do will determine how we appropriate or get hold and hang on to that gift. And certainly, we can choose to reject or let slip that privilege.

Wherefore let us set our minds right, prepare oursleves wholly and serve God continually, to the best of our abilities, that we may finally claim the crown of victory.