Thoughts on Acts 14

Today’s reading: Proverbs 5-6; Acts 14

Today’s post would probably be better named “Confusion on Fasting,” because that’s really what I’m stuck on out of the passage.

Every time I read through the book of Acts I can’t help but notice just how often they were fasting. It seems that just about every time an important decision is made, or a significant event occurs, it is accompanied by prayer and fasting. This always stands out to me because we are never commanded or instructed, anywhere in the Bible, to fast. And because it is never commanded, the Bible never lays out a justification for fasting, why it’s important or helpful, etc. It seems like the kind of thing that was evidently such obvious common knowledge there was no reason to expound on it.

I’ve heard so many explanations of fasting over the years. I’ve heard the whole range taught, from it being an archaic thing that we shouldn’t do (the biblical authors are just describing what happened, not saying what we should do, similar to slavery in the Old Testament), to it proving to God we really care about what we’re praying for, and therefore making Him more likely to answer (essentially a form of payment to get better odds at a favorable answer). And for as much as I think the one end of the spectrum goes too far in dismissing it entirely, I think the other end goes too far in presuming to “buy-off” God.

The problem with it all is that I don’t have direct biblical teaching on it to point to to effectively argue for or against a particular position. I’ve heard some things I like the sound of, but I can’t honestly say any more than that, that I like the sound of it, because it’s mostly based on people’s personal experiences rather than direct revelation. Some things I’ve heard I think we can say violate other biblical teaching, but largely I just feel confused about it.

I have tried fasting a number of times, especially when we had significant, important prayers, and I decided I would try anything to potentially make my prayers more effective, but it also honestly felt kind of “cheap,” and I was never sure how to feel about it. I also did feel like those days were good for me spiritually in practicing self-control and such, so I’ve set aside days for fasting since then just to fast or when I had something else on my mind to bring before the Lord. But because I don’t feel like I know why I’m doing it, I always end up feeling confused. The other day, for example, I decided to spend a day fasting and praying for wisdom about a couple big decisions we have to make soon, and as I was sitting down with the Lord over my lunch break, I felt like He gave me a clear answer. So should I go back to eating? Should I finish the day I had set aside for fasting? It might seem like a silly question, but I’m still not entirely sure. If the point is to “coerce” God into giving me an answer (which I don’t think it is), then there’s no reason to keep fasting after I get the answer, but if there’s more to it, then maybe I keep going out of gratitude for the answer or to continue to draw near to Him in a different way, or something…

I so badly want clear answers to what fasting is for, what it accomplishes, whether we should do it, what it should look like, etc.

I would love to hear peoples’ thoughts on this. If you fast regularly, why? What is the point? What does it mean to you? What are you trying to accomplish through it? And if you don’t fast, why not? Is it just the lack of command? Are you in a similar boat to me and not sure about it? Have you tried it and found it lacking?

I want to hear from anyone and everyone willing to weigh in on this one…