5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:5-8)
Introduction
In going slowly, step by step, through the book of James, one pitfall we want to avoid is seeing each verse, or small section of verses, as isolated wisdom sayings, especially in this first chapter. We don’t want to forget the things we have previously seen, because it is evident that James has not. He is building, in these verses today, on what He has already said, which we saw last week. We were told to count our trials as joy because we know that the testing of our faith produces steadfastness, and steadfastness brings about maturity and completeness that we may be lacking in nothing. After James tells us that the goal of trials is that we will lack in nothing, he then says in verse 5, “If any of you lacks wisdom…” So this is the setup: the goal is to lack nothing, but if any of you lacks wisdom, James is going to tell us how to get it. So these instructions we will receive today are built upon the context of patient endurance through trials, knowing our trials have a telos – to bring maturity without lack – which implies that if we lack wisdom, our desire should be to have that remedied.
Last week we also considered that steadfast endurance through trials are necessary in order to reign with Christ, and we considered the example of Biblical rulers and kings like Joseph and David who endured patiently through trials in order to reign, as did our Lord Himself. This theme of kingly steadfast endurance is continued by James, for it is wisdom which is the biblical hallmark of a good and godly king. So if we are to be kings and reign with Christ Jesus, we need this wisdom. We must seek it, that we may not lack.
Solomonic Wisdom
Consider the example of the wisest man who ever lived, who was a great king. Of course this is King Solomon. We know the famous story from 1 Kings 3. The LORD appeared to Solomon one night in a dream and told Solomon to ask Him what He shall give him. Solomon answers, saying, “You have made me king in the place of my father David, but I am a child, and know not how to come in and go out. Give me, therefore, a discerning mind and understanding mind to govern this people.” The text tells us that this pleased the Lord that Solomon asked for this. So God not only gave him wisdom, but riches, honor, and unmatched greatness in all the earth.
Now, I just have to ask – have you asked God for wisdom? I mean, have you really asked Him? Have you sat with Him in prayer, and said, “Lord, these trials are difficult, they are hard, I am weak and they are testing me and vexing me greatly, and I lack wisdom, and I know that I am to count it all joy and I know I must endure, so Lord, will you give me wisdom to see you working here, so that I can KNOW that the testing of my faith produces steadfastness? Lord, will you give me understanding?” Now, there are two main ways in which we get wisdom. One is through the Scriptures, as Paul says in 2 Timothy 3, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” So some of us have not, because we are acquainted not (with the Scriptures). But as is before us today, the other way we get wisdom is by asking God for it. And others of us have not because we ask not. So we have to know the Scriptures to be wise, we don’t want to fall into the charismatic error of being ignorant of the Word of God and declaring God told me “this” or “gave me this revelation” when clearly it is not of God and violates His word. But if we know the Scriptures, then we know that God still tells us to ask for wisdom that we lack when we need it to endure steadfastly in trials.
Proverbs Wisdom
So Solomon asks God for this wisdom, and it’s quickly displayed in his life, as he decides difficult cases, which we could call trials or testing. And from God, through Solomon, we get the wisdom of things like Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. The whole first several chapters of Proverbs is kingly, fatherly wisdom, calling out to his sons, “get wisdom, seek understanding, do not lose sight of it, be attentive to instruction, do not despise it – your very life depends on it!”
So here is James in his epistle, a father in the faith to us, saying, “If you lack wisdom, get wisdom! Ask God for it. Don’t doubt. Ask in faith. Don’t be double-minded, get wisdom!” I can’t help but pause here for a moment and exhort you, fathers, with this question: are you teaching this to your sons? Are you calling out to them to get wisdom, to not depart from it, to not let go of it, as if their very lives depend on it, lest they be seduced by the adulteress and be led down to death? This is one of your most important jobs as a father, to teach your sons wisdom, to give it to them, to instruct them, to show them how to get it and where to find it. Sons need fathers to show them the way of wisdom. So here, our father in the faith, James, instructs us how to get wisdom. He doesn’t want us to lack.
When we lack, Ask for Wisdom
James says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God…” Let’s consider this in context, which would be, “If any of you lacks wisdom in the trials and testing of your faith, let him ask God…” This is the context: wisdom in trials. The goal of trials is that we will not lack, so if we are lacking wisdom in it, then ask God for it. You see, it is in trials that we may so often lose our cool and patience and reveal our lack of wisdom. So we need more trials to fill up that lack. When the waves and the wind of testing are swirling around us, that is when it can be very hard to see God’s providence and we can be challenged to know that our trials produce steadfastness, and that is when it is hardest to count it all joy. So we need to ask God for it.
Calvin says as much, saying, “Our reason, and indeed all our senses, find it strange that we should think ourselves blessed in time of woe, and so we are told to ask the Lord to bring us this wisdom. I refer the word wisdom exactly to its context, in the sense that if the doctrine is found to be beyond the reach of your intelligence, we must beg the Lord to give us the light of His Spirit.”
I like how Calvin refers to our reason and senses as finding it strange to count it all joy when we meet trails of various kinds, for our senses are of the flesh, but wisdom, which can count it all joy, is from God, it is from above. It’s like lifting weights. When it gets hard is when you feel the harsh reality of the iron on your back – there is uncomfortableness, there is pain – all your senses are screaming at you just to rack it and throw in the towel, but the weightlifter with wisdom knows – no pain, gain. Your body can endure more than it’s telling you. Or we’ve all heard the stories of the pilot who is caught in a storm, he can’t see, all his senses are confused and screaming at him that his instruments are wrong, but he’s got to have wisdom to override those senses and trust those instruments.
So James tells us that if we lack wisdom in trials and testing, to ask God, for wisdom is from God, it is not found in our senses, or reason, or feelings, or emotions – we can’t trust those things when the waters rise – in the midst of testing. We need wisdom.
And notice that James says if we lack wisdom we are to ask for it. He doesn’t tell us to ask for freedom from trials, or for the trial to just be over with – because we’re supposed to know that the trial is necessary, and we have the trials because it’s working something in us that we lack – so what we need is not escape, but wisdom.
How God Gives
So we lack wisdom, but God has it, and He wants us to ask. We need, and God gives. Note here this simple truth that wisdom is from God. Wisdom is from God and we can have it by asking Him! There is an increasing new wave of spiritualism rising today as this generation has become disinterested in mere materialism, and they desire to have knowledge and insight and understanding of the universe. But instead of turning to the Christian faith, repenting of their sins, and seeking Christ – the pearl of great price – many are seeking knowledge from other sources, other spirits, drug-induced experiences, fables, and snares of the devil, and it will lead them to death. But we have the truth which the world needs, we have the God of all wisdom as our Father, and we can have it, we can gain wisdom to count trials as joy and KNOW that the testing of our faith produces steadfastness and so endure through the long campaign of life triumphantly, and God says, “ask me for this wisdom and I’ll give it.”
How is it that God gives this wisdom? James tells us that God gives generously. And He gives to all, meaning all who ask aright, and He gives without reproach. This means that God is pleased to give to us. He is not angry or upset when we ask, He is pleased. He is not annoyed or bothered at our asking, He invites it. Boys and girls, are you ever afraid or nervous to ask your parents for something, because you’re afraid they will be upset with your asking or bothered by the question? We all remember this when we were kids. We ought not to have that fear. But God is not like this. He gives without reproach and is glad for our asking.
We were having family worship recently, going through the book of Luke, and we got to the part where Jesus talks about asking and receiving. And He illustrates by saying how much will the ungodly give good things to their children? And He says, “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead give him a serpent? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? Now my boys thought this was absolutely hilarious, and proceeded to go on for some time with their examples of ridiculous things a father would never give to his sons – “what if he gave him a rock? What if he gave him a bomb?” It was great joy and laughter learning how God gives. But this is giving without reproach.
As parents we should want to give like this to our children. It is easy to lose our patience and let the frustrations of life overtake us in our responses to our children, but we must remember how God gives to us without reproach, and show that to our children, not exasperating them, but showing we are pleased when they come to us.
So God gives generously, to all, without reproach. The context here also shows us another way how God often gives this wisdom. And that is that God often gives this wisdom through patient endurance of trials. Remember, trials are the testing of our faith, with the goal that we be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. So if we lack something, if we lack wisdom, it is through the testing of our faith, through patient endurance of trials, that the lack is filled, that we gain wisdom. Wisdom is not just downloaded instantly into our brains like a computer program, but it comes through suffering. If we do not have, is it because we are not willing to be steadfast in testing?
How We Must Ask
We have seen how God gives, let us consider how we must ask.
First, we are to ask in faith. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for. It is a belief and confidence in the promises of God and a trust in Christ and His Word. We are to ask in faith, knowing the word of God, believing it, praying according to the word of God, according to the promises therein. So many prayers of faith in Scripture are modeled for us in that one who prays recounts the promises of God and His steadfast love that He has shown, and asks Him to do it again, believing He will.
Second, we are to ask with “no doubting.” Now biblical doubting is not quite like we think of it today. Often we think that doubt is just having questions. But doubting does not mean there are no questions and difficulties. We know throughout the Psalms that the Psalmist asks God many things, “How long O Lord?” “Why do you hide your face from me?” “Why hast thou forsaken me?” The Psalms show us the place of questions, being asked in trust and faith in God. That is different than what James shows us as doubting, as he says the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind, and that one is an unstable man, double-minded.
This shows us that the one who asks in faith is one who patiently endures trials, whereas the one who asks but doubts is one that does not faithfully endure trials, rather the wind of the trials tosses him about like water, which is ungrounded, unstable, and not steadfast. In this we see that asking in faith and asking but doubting, are not merely inward postures toward God, but they are shown in outward endurance through trials, showing we have faith and trust in God, or showing that we do not, being double-minded, tossed by the wind, and unstable. The one who asks God but doubts, asks God, but then doesn’t endure steadfastly, he then also turns to worldly pleasures to numb the pain, or substances such as drugs or alcohol, or then seeks help from worldly philosophies, or unchristian self-improvement. He is unstable, double-minded, not solely focused on Christ to have His work done in Him. He doesn’t count it all joy.
Why? The One Who Doubts…
Why are we not to doubt? Matthew Henry says, “The success of prayer is spoiled hereby.” One tossed around like a wave is unstable, indeed wicked, and ought not expect anything from the Lord. Such double-mindedness is wickedness. Isaiah 57:20-21 says, “But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.” A Christian is marked by steadfastness, endurance, patience, and joy, even in the midst of testing, but the wicked are like tossing waves, to and fro, with no rest, no peace, and the tossing storm of the trial tosses up the evil in their hearts. They are unstable.
Such a doubter James calls double-minded. I think of the prophet Elijah, how he says to the people, “How long will you go limping between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.” A double-minded man does not have a singular focus, a singular faith upon the living Christ.
A Christian may not be able to know all the answers or see all the reasons through the storm of the trial and the dark clouds of testing, but by faith He sees Christ, He believes the promises of Christ, and counts it joy, endures with steadfastness, asks for wisdom, and receives it from God.
Jesus is Wisdom
In one very real sense, to ask for wisdom, is to ask for Christ, for Christ is wisdom. He is wisdom incarnate. And in Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2). Wisdom is not an abstract set of principles out there somewhere, but wisdom is in Christ, Christ is wisdom. Do you want Christ? Do you seek Him in your trials and testing? In the valley and in the darkness do you seek the treasures there with and in Christ? He led the way through the valley of the shadow of death in great suffering on our behalf, with all steadfastness and wisdom, calling out to the Father in prayer, with faith and no doubting. And He gives Himself to us, and it is the experience of the saints, that Christ even becomes most precious to us when we are in the dungeon of suffering. Christ is there. Let the pursuit of the pearl of great price be our singular focus in times of testing, and we will be made rich in Christ.
I think of our Lord when He fell asleep on the boat, and the winds and the waves began to rise in a great storm, and the disciples were afraid, they were doubting, they feared for their lives, and Jesus awakes, He rebukes the storm, and then He turns and rebukes the disciples, saying, “Where is your faith?” You see Christ was there the whole time. The giver of the trial, the sustainer of the winds and waves, was there, and He was not bothered, He was steadfast. And instead of going to Christ, and observing His steadfastness and gaining strength, they looked around at the storm, like Peter, walking out to Christ on the water, He began to look around everywhere else but at Christ – a bit of double-mindedness. But Christ was there all along, unbothered, unwavering, steadfast, ready to give to those who ask.
So, “if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
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