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Count It All Joy (James 1:5-8) |
We Need Wisdom to Endure Joyfully
Louis
Bartet
5But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who
gives to all generously and without reproach,
and it will be given to him. 6But he must ask in faith
without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea,
driven and tossed by the wind. 7For that man ought not to expect
that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8being a double-minded man, unstable in all
his ways.
James 1:5-8 (NASB)
James’
audience consists of Jewish believers who were scattered because of
persecution. Many of them were
wrestling with an age old problem.
How does one reconcile[1]
the existence of a good and benevolent God with the existence of evil?
NOTE: It is not my purpose or objective to reconcile the existence of
good and evil, but to focus on James’ exhortation to those undergoing
severe adversity. I do, however,
believe that before we sit in judgment of the Eternal in such matters, we need
to realize that only God would be qualified to render an accurate judgment in
such cases. Only He is omniscient
and only He knows what ultimate good is. ::
One of
the main issues that surfaces in times of suffering has to do with just cause? Why is God allowing this to happen to
me? What did I do to deserve
this? Although it may not be wrong
to ask “why” or “what,” James encourages us to ask for
wisdom. When you find yourself in
the grip of some adversity instead of asking why,
ask God for wisdom.
James’
exhortation in verse four, “let patience have its perfect work,”
tells us that we are partly responsible for our development. He teaches us that
adversity can and does develop moral character if we allow it to. A benefit of enduring and persevering in
the midst of trials is that it produces a stable, godly, and righteous
character in us. (See 1Peter 5:10
and Gal 4:19.)
1Peter
5:10 – “…may the God of all grace…after you have
suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and
settle you.”
There can
be little doubt that God uses adversity to develop His people and to enable
them to make progress. He uses it
to…
·
Perfect – to make them fit or complete; to
qualify them for those tasks that are ahead.
·
Establish –
to make them steadfast, so that they will not be moved by winds of persecution.
·
Strengthen –
to equip them for service or to give them the ability to meet the demands of
life and ministry successfully and without failing.
·
Settle –
to give them a firm foundation on which to stand, so that they will not be led
away by false teaching or false prophets.
If we
give God His way in the midst of the classroom of adversity, then, according to
James, we will emerge as mature believers who lack nothing. Maturity is the product, but to get there we must endure adversity. Here is where verse five comes in. I want the benefits of verse four, but
to obtain them I must out last the problem. I must endure, but what is it that
will enable me to endure?
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ASK FOR WISDOM |
“But
if any man lacks wisdom, let him ask of God…” (v.5) |
Here
James uses the term “lack” to introduce us to the answer to our
question. What is it
that I lack that will enable me to endure? It is “wisdom,” so, “if any man lacks wisdom,
let him ask of God.”
·
Experience is a great teacher, but
it is not the source of wisdom.
·
Education is wonderful, but it is
not the source of wisdom.
·
Intelligence is a blessing, but one
can have an IQ of 170 and yet lack wisdom.
In Romans
1:22, Paul says that educated intelligent men who claimed to be wise proved
themselves to be fools…
·
by substituting
the worship of man made images for the worship of the true God,
·
by exchanging
the truth for a lie (Ro. 1:25), and
·
by abandoning
that which is normal for that which is perverted (1:26-27), and then approving
and applauding such behavior.
We may
play a part in our moral development, but wisdom comes only from God.
Proverbs
2:6 – “For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge
and understanding.”
In addition to this, Paul distinguishes between the debatable wisdom of the
world and the irrevocable wisdom of God.
(See 1Cor. 1:20-24.)
James
makes a distinction between heavenly wisdom and demonic wisdom.
·
In 3:15, he refers to a wisdom that
he describes as “earthly,
sensual, and demonic.”
·
In 3:17, he contrasts that wisdom with
what he calls, “…the wisdom that is from above…” and says that it is “…pure, then peaceable, gentle,
willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without
hypocrisy.”
If we are
to understand what James is referring to when he uses the term
“wisdom,” then we must keep two things in mind.
1. We must remember
that he is writing to Jewish believers who
had been dispersed by severe persecution.
2. We must
acknowledge that his use of the term “wisdom” is to be defined in a
Hebrew context. To the Hebrews wisdom was the skillful application
of divinely gained knowledge to the matter of practical living.
According
to David P. Nystrom, “The
Jews understood wisdom not only as the mind and purposes of
God, but also as the content of revealed
truth.”[2] He notes that “In John the Holy Spirit performs both
functions,” and cites Jesus’ statement in John 14:17
and 14:26 as proof.
John 14:17 –
“the Spirit of truth…dwells with you and will be in you.”
John 14:26 –
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name,
He will teach you all things, and bring to your
remembrance all things that I said to you.”
After
noting Jesus’ statement about the Spirit of truth, it is interesting that
in Proverbs wisdom is personified and
speaks in the first person.
Prov.
1:20-21 – “Wisdom calls aloud in the streets; she raises her voice
in the open squares. She cries out
on the top of the walls, at the openings of the gates in the city she speaks
her words.”
Prov.
3:13-18 – “…her proceeds are better than the profits of
silver…she is more precious than rubies…length of days in her right
hand…her ways are ways of pleasantness…she is a tree of life to
those who take hold of her, and happy are all who retain her.”
According
to Donald Stamps, editor of the Full Life Study Bible, the wisdom referred to
by James is…
…the
spiritual capacity to see and evaluate life and conduct
from God's point of view. It involves making right choices and doing right
things according to both the will of God revealed
in His Word and the leading
of the Holy Spirit
(Rom 8:4-17).[3]
James is
encouraging his readers to ask God for the ability to interpret their
adversities from His perspective and to deal with them according to His plan
and purpose. If anyone lacks these
insights, then all they need to is “ask God.”
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ASK GOD PASSIONATELY |
…let
him ask of God… (v.5) |
The term ask is the term used when James says, “You have not because you ask
not” (James 4:2). This shoots holes in the idea that says,
“If God wants me to have it He’ll give it to me.” No!
James says, ASK GOD.
It’s
the term Luke uses in Luke 11:13 when he writes, “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give
good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the
Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"
It is
translated “desire”
in Colossians 1:9.
It was
what the lame man was doing as he sat by the gate of the temple; he was asking alms of those who passed by (Acts 3:2).
It is a
request prompted by a deep understanding of one’s need and motivated by a
passionate desire for the provision.
It is not some passive request, but earnest heartfelt prayer. It is the way that blind Bartimaeus
cried out to Jesus.
Mark 10:46 ...A blind beggar named Bartimaeus
(son of Timaeus) was sitting beside the road as Jesus was going by.
NLT Mark 10:47 When Bartimaeus heard that Jesus
from
NLT Mark 10:48 "Be quiet!" some of the
people yelled at him. But he only shouted louder,
"Son of David, have mercy on me!
James is
exhorting his readers, who realize their great need for wisdom, to give
expression to their passionate desire.
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ASK GOD CONFIDENTLY |
…ask God, who
gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to
him. (v.5) |
God is a
giving God. It’s His nature
to give. Jesus Himself told us, “If you, then, being
evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much
more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” (NIV Matthew 7:11). His gifts are better in quality and
quantity.
God is not only a giving God,
He is not tightfisted, but generous in His giving. In Ephesians, Paul says that God “lavished” His
grace on us. Through Malachi God
declares, “Bring ye all the
tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me
now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of
heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there
shall not be room enough
to receive it” (Malachi 3:10, KJV).
God gives
without insulting the petitioner.
He doesn’t bring up the past or put hurdles in front of us. He gives generously and with a gracious
attitude. The gift is released to
those who simply ask. There is no
fine print and no “you owe me” attached. Ask God and it will be given to
you.
There is
only one condition.
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ASK IN FAITH |
But he must ask in
faith without any doubting… (V.6) |
5 Ask God…and it will be given to him. 6But he must
ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of
the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7For that man ought not to
expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8being a double-minded man, unstable in all
his ways.
If
you’re going to pray for rain, then make sure your tub is ready to catch
the rain.
The test of time. The fact that faith is required
suggests that God’s giving doesn’t always fall on the heels of our
asking. The initial asking must be
accompanied by stable consistent faith.
The test of truth. Although we may not know all we
want to know about the problem we are experiencing, we can hold on to the
things we know about God. The man who is unsettled in his thinking is unstable
in his living. We must settle some
basic issues if we are going to receive anything from the Lord.
·
God is good all the time.
·
God is too wise to make a foolish
decision.
·
God is too kind to ask me to endure
adversity without a justifiable reason.
·
God can and should be trusted at
all times, even when we don’t know what He’s doing.
·
God is sovereign and has the
authority and power to do whatever He deems necessary for the advancement of
the Kingdom.
The
doubter needs the stability, strength and settledness that come from enduring
trials.
CONCLUSION
Bearing
up under adversity develops maturity in those who stay the course. It equips them to serve God victoriously
and effectively.
A great KEY to endurance is “wisdom.”
·
Wisdom is the ability to look at
and deal with life and its circumstances in a way that glorifies God.
·
Wisdom is the right application of
our knowledge about God, His character, His ways and His purpose.
·
Wisdom is the light that brings
things into perspective and illuminates the circumstances of life so we can see
things as they are and take a godly course of action.
·
It is the ability to know, not just
what to do, but the best course of action.
The KEY to wisdom is asking and believing.
Phil Callaway didn't know what to
say when his young children asked if Mommy was going to die. His wife, Ramona,
suffered horrible seizures.
Hundreds of
friends and relatives prayed, but Ramona's weight eventually slipped to 90
pounds. Medical specialists tried everything, but by the fall of 1996, the
seizures were occurring daily, sometimes hourly.
Phil rarely left
Ramona's side. He wondered if she would even make it to her 30th birthday. One
evening, when things looked utterly hopeless, Phil paced their dark back yard
and then fell to his knees. "God!" he cried out. "I can't take
it anymore. Please do something!"
Suddenly a
doctor's name came to mind. Phil called the doctor, who saw Ramona the next
morning and diagnosed a rare chemical deficiency.
Within a
week, Ramona's seizures ended. Her eyes sparkled again. The miracle was so
incredible, Phil says, "God gave me back my wife."[4]
The issue
isn’t non-existence, but blindness on our part. God does have answers for us. They may not be the ones we want, but
they are definitely the ones we need to live victoriously and joyfully.
PRAYER
God, I
ask you for wisdom. Reveal to me
how your character applies to my situation, how You would handle my situation
and what your plan is for me in the midst of this problem. I refuse to lean on my own
understanding, as your ways are higher than my ways. I choose to believe your promises. I
believe You are too good to do something evil and too wise to do the wrong
thing. In those areas where I
don’t have a clue I choose to trust You.
[1]
Theodicy is a branch of theology that studies how the existence
of a good or benevolent God is reconciled with the existence of evil. An
attempt to reconcile the co-existence of evil and God is sometimes called
"a theodicy".
[2]
David
P. Nystrom, James, The NIV Application Commentary, page 50.
[3]
The Full Life Study Bible, Donald Stamps editor
[4]
Citation: Christian Reader (Jan/Feb 2002), pp.12-13; source: Luis Palau, It's a God Thing, www.palau.org/godthing