JAMES 1:5-8
WHEN YOU LACK WISDOM
Ralph had worked for his company for almost 15 years and he had always been one of the top salesmen. But the economy had slowed down to a snail’s pace and no one was placing orders with him anymore. The pressure was really beginning to mount, and past performance and years of service didn’t count for anything. The boss called him in and said, “If you don’t get out there and drum up some business in a hurry, I’ll find someone who will”. So the heat was turned up another notch. What was Ralph to do? He was already working harder than he ever had, spending more time on the road, knocking on more doors, but he had very little to show for his efforts, and his deadline was rapidly approaching.
There was one thing he could do. There were some good sales that he knew were coming in a couple of months, and he could fudge on the paperwork and make it look as if he had already closed them. That would satisfy the boss for a while until something else came along. The more he thought about it and the greater the pressure on him, the more he was able to rationalize away the unethical nature of his plan. And in the end he told his wife that he had even prayed about it and felt that God wanted him to do this to protect his family.
This situation is fictional, but maybe some of you have been or are in situations where the pressure is so great, that like Ralph you are considering to do something that you would never do any other time. You see, when pressure mounts on us, the normally clear lines of right and wrong seem to become obscure. The greater the pressure the harder it is to act in a God-edifying manner.
It can happen to teens when it comes final exam time, or when a boy or girl friend is pushing to abandon convictions in the area of proper sexual conduct. What do you do when the pressure is intense and you’re becoming less sure about the proper way to act?
James seems to be writing to teenagers, to business men and women, in fact to every one of us. He is telling us what to do when the pressure gets so great we have lost or are loosing our sense of Godly living.
James 1:5-8, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. 6 But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.”
This setting is similar to that which we saw Ralph in a few moments ago, where trials and sufferings have come like an unwelcome army invading our lives. Because the pressure is really turned up, our firm convictions of the godly way of acting are under attack and we just aren’t sure what to do.
My personal experience is that in situations like this, Christians, just like you, can come up with some of the most innovative and amazing rationalizations of God’s will. Our goal is to relieve the pressure, and if we have to, we can convince ourselves that God is actually leading us to do something against his revealed will. The deceitfulness of the heart is without boundaries. When the pressures of life are so great that confusion and doubt begin to filter into our thinking and acting, what do you do?
Once again James puts his finger on a raw nerve and then he says here is what you do, here is the plan: PRAY! Prayer is the duty recommended to suffering Christians, but fortunately James gives us a few more details about this prayer.
It is:
I. ASKING GOD
What a novel idea! If you are in the midst of a great trial and you are confused and uncertain, ask God. Many people listen to Dr. Laura on the local radio station, while many others run to the Christian bookstore and go through the vast selection of books that tell us “how to handle pressure.”
We have so many human resources today, why would we ever go to God? What could He possibly add? Our human resources tell us how to mask pain or get out from under it, but God says, “Let it have its full effect so you may be a complete Christian, and when you struggle in the midst of it, go to God!”
Picture a child after the school bully has made the day miserable for him. He wants to fight and cry and run away all at the same time. He is mad, sad and scared all at the same time. He goes home to Mom and says, “Mom, what can I do?” As good and faithful as Mom is to help and protect, there is someone better to go to for help, and it’s not Dad! A child can go to Jesus, for He hears children as well as adults, for help in knowing what to think and how to act. Jesus loves children and He wants them to grow to love Him more. He even puts hard things in their lives so they will come to Him and ask for help, depending on Him, shaped by His tender hands.
It’s not that we just ask God to take our problems away, we must ask Him how He wants us to act in the midst of them. The promise in the last part of this verse is that when you come in faith, in your weakness, God will give it to you.
What is “it”? We are not only commanded to ask God, but the context tells us what we are to ask for, otherwise we may ask for the wrong thing:
II. ASK GOD FOR WISDOM
There is something unusual about this command and it is this. What do you usually pray for when you are in tough situations? What do your prayers sound like when you are desperate and hurting? Don’t most of us pray for God to remove the problem, to stop the pain? But if I read James correctly we ought not pray so much for the removal of the pain as for wisdom to make good use of it!
The thing that stands out in this text is that James does NOT say, “Ask God to take away the trial.”
When I come to something in Scripture that is vastly different from my natural inclination, I try to take careful notice of the lesson. I think that this is an important one --“Ask God for wisdom.” Who does not want wisdom to guide you in your thinking and acting when you are suffering and knee deep in trials? Who doesn’t want wisdom to guide you in judging your situation, in keeping your attitude and spirit and in directing your actions when you are in the midst of great pressure?
To be wise in trying times is a special gift of God and we must ask for it. We ask for wisdom for it is the gift of God which enables us to be that “teleios” or perfect Christian and stand the test.
There is an Old Testament incident that helps us understand what wisdom does. It is when Solomon asked God to give him wisdom. We find it recorded in two passages.
In 2 Chronicles 1:10 we are told that Solomon asked for “wisdom and knowledge.” The other passage is 1 Kings 3:9, “So give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong.”
A simple understanding of the effect of God’s wisdom is that we are given the ability to determine the difference between good and evil. The moral actions that were obscured by pressure are now cleared when we ask God for wisdom and He gives it. It is like having cataracts removed from your eyes and being able to see clearly again.
But you might say, “I just don’t have the confidence that God will really answer me when I’m down and cry out for His wisdom. I can ask for things when I’m really up and spiritual, but not when I’m struggling and filled with pain and weakness.”
The ground of our confidence that such prayer will be answered is not our condition, but God’s character.
“…he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” v.5
Our willing Father, who gives gladly to all His children without discrimination, gives generously without reservation, and gives graciously without finding fault in us. Isn’t this a great and wonderful God, who despite our rebellions and failings and constant requests, still loves us with a great love? He, who delights in our frequent prayers and is glorified in supplying our constant lacks?
Do you hesitate to come to God? Do you think, “I can’t bother Him again?” Are you ashamed because you have failed Him time and time again? Don’t you see His glorious and gracious nature that commands us to come again and again and again, to seek our strength, our wisdom, our hope in Him?
O, Christian, don’t go to the empty well of human resources to satisfy your thirst for relief in time of trouble! Go to Jesus who welcomes you with a strong and tender embrace and molds you to lack nothing. Yes, at your weakest moment plead with God for wisdom.
James tells us who to ask, and what to ask for, but he also tells us how to ask:
III. IN FAITH ASK GOD FOR WISDOM
While we have seen the willing father in v. 5, v. 6-8 describes the waiting child.
Twice we are commanded to ask, in v. 5, ”ask of God” and now in v. 6, ”ask in faith.” This is a word of caution, for James has just assured us that God will answer our prayer for wisdom, but not every prayer is answered. The one absolute requirement is that you ask in faith.
The meaning of faith here has been debated. It could mean confidence that God will do as you have asked. Or it could be trust in Christ, a state of believing.
The context of James seems to require it to mean Faith in Jesus. This means that James is considering, not doubt when praying, but our salvation itself.
This glorious promise of wisdom in the midst of pain and suffering is for God’s children only. A person without faith is “double-minded”, that is his allegiance wavers. There is an inner conflict between trust and distrust of God. There is a loving of the world, a turning to the world, and then a turning to God when nothing else works.
When tragedy strikes everyone turns to God. When the child of an ungodly, blasphemous man lies in a coma, suddenly his heart softens and he asks for everyone to pray. But when it is over, so is his piety and he curses God as he did before.
Is that any different than the teenager who comes to church on Sunday and is engulfed in sinful behavior Monday night?
Is that any different than the man who sits in the pew on Sunday and cheats everyone he can in business deals the rest of the week?
Is that any different than the woman who teaches Sunday School, and then takes up her secret affair later that week?
Is that any different than the person who claims to love God, but pride and lust and greed really rule their life?
This double-minded person whose prayer will never be heard by God is one whose allegiance to God is less than total. The double-minded person is vacillating in all his activity and conduct instead of “lacking in nothing.” James makes it absolutely clear: the double-minded person does not have faith and their prayer will not be heard, much less answered.
While James is concerned with help in our times of trouble on this earth, I am concerned about our help in the Day of Judgment. If you consider yourself a child of God, but you love the world and think you can love Christ too, it can’t be! Too often we pastors sin by letting you sit comfortably in the pew, without giving the clear warning that the double-minded man, literally the double-souled man, will receive nothing, including salvation from God.
There is a third command in our text and it is this, “That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;...”
It is the single-minded lover of God who has the ear of the Father. I don’t know where you are, but if you are trying to live in the world and trying to live in the Kingdom of God at the same time it will not work. God rejects everyone who does that!
James 4:8, “Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”
O, little children, while your hearts are tender, “Love the Lord!”
Teenagers don’t try to live both ways, you can’t. “Love the Lord.”
Adults, in your sophistication, you may fool everyone here today, but in the Day of Judgment there will be no intercessor for you. You may cry and plead, but you will stand in your own filthy unrighteousness and not Christ’s pure righteousness.
If you are living that double life, repent and come to Christ today!
