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

King Jehoshaphat provides a great example of what to do when fear takes hold. And make no mistake about it, there are plenty of things that cause us to fear—whether they are real or imagined!

First, set your mind to seek the Lord. When we have a problem, we tend to seek the Lord mostly because we are seeking help. That is not bad, but how much more help might we receive if we were to seek the Lord Himself, instead of merely seeking favors from Him!

Second, be serious about it. There is nothing magical about not eating. Fasting may involve not eating, but the point is that when prayer is accompanied by fasting, it means this is a serious season of prayer. Ten cent prayers do not yield million dollar answers. When we are beset by fear, or anything else, we need not only to pray, but commit to serious prayer. Abstaining from food is a means of humbling ourselves, and of giving ourselves a reminder to pray when we would otherwise prefer to eat. The point, however, is serious prayer, not: “not eating.”

Judah was being attacked by three nations at once—I’d call that legitimate fear. But the King sought the Lord, and the Lord answered, giving Judah one of their biggest-ever military victories. While the particular strategy that God gave Jehoshaphat in that instance may not be typical, you might be encouraged by reading all of 2 Chronicles 20 to see what can happen when we seek the Lord!