In Second Chronicles, chapter twenty, verse three, Jehoshaphat faces the greatest crisis of his life, as in verses one through two. He met a seemingly impossible circumstance in an exemplary manner. Jehoshaphat began to seek the Lord through fasting in verse three, gathered together others to pray and fast in the next verse, confessed his helplessness in verse twelve, obeyed the Holy Spirit in verses fourteen through eighteen, put his trust in the Lord and His word in verse twenty, and give thanks to the Lord in verses twenty to twenty-two. Seeking the Lord can intensify through fasting. Fasting as a discipline should accompany the believer’s prayer life not limited to only in times of crisis but also with some regularity in the pursuit of God, as in Ezra eight, verse twenty-three, Nehemiah nine, verses one through two, and Daniel nine, verse three, respectively.
Jehoshaphat feared partly from human frailty, remembrance of his guilt, and the wrath of God denounced against him for it as in Second Chronicles nineteen, verse two. He settled resolution, seriousness, and earnestness in it and prepared and fixed his heart for it. Jehosaphat proclaims a fast partly in token of his humiliation and for his sins and partly to make himself and his people more fervent in their prayers. The first recorded occasion here of a general fast by royal proclamation and of individual fasting, remarkably, there is no record before the time since the act of Moses in Exodus thirty-four, verse twenty-eight. After which, for individual fasting come occasions like those of David in Second Samuel twelve, verse sixteen, and Elijah in First Kings nineteen, verse eight, and for general fasting, occasions like those of Joshua seven, verse six, and Judges twenty, verse twenty-six, accordingly.
Fasting should not be the last resort when something goes wrong, as in the example with Jehosaphat. However, it should be for strengthening the inner person, which will help followers of Christ be spiritually connected to the Trinity. Fasting helps believers to come up in spirit and will aid the inner person to control the outer, which is the physical and its desires. However, this passion will not occur if we live in sin.