Tried…and True

We are just beyond the halfway
point in our study of Colossians chapter two, and all things considered,
it seemed like an appropriate time to just take a break from
our Colossians study. And we’ll pick back up here in
a few weeks, Lord willing. But this morning, I would like
God’s people please to turn to James Epistle, specifically to
chapter one. And this passage, two through
eight, is surely a familiar passage of scripture to every believer.
We had the privilege of studying this letter about five years
ago. And the particular passage that I want to review this morning
is known to God’s people because, as James says here in verses
two through eight, he is addressing the matter of our faith and the
outworking of our faith, especially as it comes to trials. And so
what is more familiar to the Christian than trials? So if
for no one else, I personally wanted to return to this passage.
For no one else, I’m preaching to myself this morning. James,
the brother of the Lord, was the human author of this epistle.
This epistle does belong in the New Testament canon. It is divine
revelation. It is a book for us, not just
for the Jews who were the primary initial recipients. The overall
theme of James, as we see, is faith. It is a book about faith
and the exercise of that faith. Faith is the one great overarching
theme, and that’s made clear by the fact that that word faith
occurs 16 times in that short letter. And so James discusses
the believer’s faith, he discusses feeble faith, he even addresses
false faith, encouraging the same kind of personal faith examination
As does Jesus, as does Paul. Paul says it this way, test yourselves
to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves, 2nd Corinthians
13 5. As a shepherd of this great flock
of maturing believers, James’s foremost desire was for their
growth in grace. so that they might become a beacon
of God’s light to their countrymen, the Jews, and to the Gentiles. But as James observed these plentiful
and immature lambs, he quite obviously began to observe sinful
tendencies, thoughts, and actions that displeased God. He’s not arguing in this epistle
for a salvation by works. He’s arguing that if faith is
genuine, If a person is truly saved, works will be evident. The presence will be a fruit
of faith. Faith without the evidence of
good works is a dead faith. James will argue he wants not
merely to challenge the genuineness of their faith, but he desires
that they too would be assured by the presence of fruit in their
lives. Well, we know that as believers
in Christ, nothing tests and proves our faith more than trials. As it turns out, that is their
God-ordained design. God tests or proves our faith
by trial. The opening section of this epistle
carries ultimately all the way down to verse 18. It’s a protracted
discussion, really, of the proper functioning of faith in the midst
of these temptations and trials. This morning, I’d like to zero
in on verses 2 through 8. And it’s important to note that
James’s thought rests on the foundation of verses 2 through
4. So let’s start at the beginning, verse two, of course, down through
verse eight. Follow along as I read, if you
would. Consider it all joy, my brethren,
when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your
faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect
result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives
to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given
to him. But let him ask in faith without
doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea,
driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man expect that
he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded
man, unstable in all his ways. In our Christian life, we desire to be found not only
tried—we will certainly face trials—but we want to be found
tried and true, bearing the distinctive marks of faithfulness regardless
of the trials. Specifically, in these seven
verses, James lays out the noble goal of glorifying God in the
midst of our trials. So let’s go all the way back
to the beginning of this paragraph to verse two, if you could, glorifying
God in our trials. And first we see that if we’re
going to glorify God in our trials, we must embrace God’s sovereignty
in our trials. Consider it all joy, my brethren,
when you encounter various trials. So James immediately launches
into what is arguably the thesis of his entire epistle. Trials
will come. And when they come, not if, they
come as tests of our faith. Consider it all joy, James says. I know that this is a trial,
he might say to us, but consider it otherwise. To consider a trial
joy, is a position at which a person arrives only after serious and
prayerful deliberation. And I would even say, we need
to be delicate about throwing this verse up in people’s faces. I’ve heard people in the midst
of great trial, and they come across a well-meaning believer. Consider it all joy. This is
something that we have to engage in over a long period of prayerful
deliberation. It’s the process of arriving
at the ability to esteem such trials not as evil, not for ill,
not as an occasion for gloom or a cause for despair. Consider
it. Evaluate it differently in our
minds. Judge it differently. Come to
a place where you look at trials differently. James says, make
a conscious mental effort to think of these trials differently
than you may be inclined to think of them. If you want to honor
God in your trials, your trials, your multitudinous, variegated
trials, use your head, is basically what he says. Think of them differently. Consider it all joy. Think of
them in a radically different way than we might normally think
of them. Esteem them. Welcome them as
occasions for rejoicing. That’s right, that’s what he
says, rejoicing. And believe me, this is as hard
for me to swallow as it is for you, and sometimes maybe harder. Consider it all joy. And that’s
tough to swallow at first, right? We’re human. And in a very real
sense, that response, consider it all joy, is a paradox. The
trials themselves sure don’t seem to be the occasion of joy. It’s difficult to make that transition. It doesn’t mean you’re unsaved
or unspiritual. Remember, James is writing to
Christians. So he tells them, there is another
way to think about trials. There’s another way to look at
life’s difficulties. There’s another way to esteem
these troubles. You have to look at them from
a spiritual perspective. You have to consider them as
ultimately being a source of joy. Ultimately, they serve a
divine purpose. That’s the truth of Romans 8,
28, isn’t it? We know that God causes all things to work together
for good for those who love God to those who are called according
to his purpose. And that means that ultimately
this trial, whatever it is, has been sifted through God’s loving
fingers for me. It’s for me. Your trials are
for you. They are according to his purpose
for your life. And once we consider our trial,
whatever it is, from that perspective, joy will follow. God loves me
enough to allow me to go through this and to grant me the grace.
But here James cautiously qualifies the crossing of these trials
as an encounter. It’s a fascinating string of
words. The word, like so many of James’s
vocabulary, it’s a fascinating word. And we tend to regard trials,
don’t we, as just coming, just arriving. Things just happen,
so we say. But James paints a graphic picture
of the arrival of trials. Listen to this. He uses a word
that means to fall into. or to fall upon, almost to trip
over. And this word in all three places
that it’s used in the New Testament, it’s always used in the context
of trials or difficulties. In fact, one of the other two
times that this word is used in the New Testament is of that
poor Samaritan in Luke’s gospel. of whom Jesus said, he fell among
robbers. We don’t use that kind of language,
but scripture does. Jesus did. The other use of this
word is of the scene of the shipwreck in Paul’s transport to Rome.
Remember Acts 27, he’s being carted to Rome to stand before
Caesar. The word is completely obscured
in most translations. Some translations interpret and
they mention a reef, a sandbar, perhaps. The truth is there is
no reef or sandbar, not in the original text. It’s a reasonable
conjecture that that’s what happened to the ship, but it’s completely
interpretational. Literally, it would be this. Having fallen around the meeting
of two seas, they got caught in some kind of a riptide. And
the King James captures that. And falling into a place where
two seas met, they ran the ship aground. All this to say, we
fall into our trials. These are those difficulties
and trials that suddenly burst onto the scene, that come upon
us suddenly, and we fall into them without warning. We didn’t
see it coming. There’s so many pitfalls in our
lives, and often this word trials is used, tied to things evil
and difficulties and challenges and hardships, life’s great and
manifold hardships. A believer falls into these.
There are substantial difficulties that actually occur. They’re
not just a figment of our imagination. They’re real. And James doesn’t
say if, but when. Trials are coming. If you’re
not in the midst of a trial, prepare yourself. One of the
first things we observe is that he says that This isn’t just
a one-size-fits-all proposition, as if we’re all going to face
the same kind of trial. The adjective translated as various
actually falls at the very end of the sentence in the Greek.
We fall into all kinds of trials, various. What one called multicolored. The word is poikilas, it speaks
of variety, a great variety of trials. Poikilas per asmos, Peter
calls it. A whole lot of various… trials
that we face. These trials, our trials, says
James, says Peter, they come in all shapes and sizes according
to God’s purpose. And so the only question is not
whether you’re having a trial, but what kind of trial You find
yourself in health-related, family-related, money-related, trials-related
to unbelievers, persecution, work-related, and on and on and
on goes the list, right? We didn’t see it coming, but
we fell into them. There they were. And so James
is speaking of a serious trial, one that can have serious ramifications,
serious consequences. And James, he isn’t referring
to the bothersome, insignificant. It’s amazing to me sometimes
what people call a trial. They couldn’t find a parking
place close enough. James isn’t referring to those
bothersome, insignificant little annoyances of life, mosquitoes
and traffic and long lines. These are the great challenges,
major difficulties, overwhelming calamities into which we fall. And these are the occasions that
come to us, not from us. We didn’t necessarily bring it
on ourselves through foolish or sinful behavior. We fall into
it. God put it there for a reason.
Look, if you would, at verse three. Consider it all joy, my brethren,
when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your
faith produces endurance. We didn’t see this trial coming.
If we could, we would probably avoid it, right? We didn’t go
looking for this trial, nor should we. But God allowed it. God put it there. God sifted
it through his fingers for us. It could even be said that he
sent it not in order to harm us, but to prove us, to develop
us. And that word knowing at the
head of that phrase captures the believer in the process of
reconsidering his or her trials. In short, this lays the groundwork
to considering it all joy. It’s a mental exercise whereby
we come to recognize trials differently. This knowing observes the Christian
deliberating, mulling, meditating, coming to an intelligent understanding
of God’s ways. And a big part of that is remembering
the purpose of trials. They’re designed for the testing
of our faith, that which produces Endurance. This testing is once
again, it’s that familiar language we’ve looked at it so many times.
It’s the image of purifying metal, burning off the dross, purifying
the product, pure gold, silver, or in this case, our endurance.
Particularly here, the end product is endurance, faithful patience,
a trust in God that has Him as knowing what is good and right.
for us. In other words, tried and true.
This endurance refers to a firmness of character and abiding under
some burden as if that burden is no burden at all. And it basically points to a
believer that is not quitting. It’s not a sullen, stiff-upper-lipped
kind of endurance, but it’s a triumphant joy of faith. that kind of endurance. Come to a second point, and it’ll
be brief. I’m just doing a review of this
section. If we’re gonna glorify God in
our trials, not only do we need to embrace God’s sovereignty
in them, we need to develop a spiritual maturity in our trials. For that,
would you just glance at verse four briefly? Let endurance have
its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete,
lacking in nothing. Well, James proceeds to tell
us here that this endurance ultimately leads to spiritual maturity. He says it this way, that you
may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. This is not
a health and wealth verse. This is a Christian spiritual
maturity verse. That word perfect, teleos in
the Greek, does not mean literally perfect, but rather complete
with regard to purpose. The word was used of a farm animal,
say a horse, becoming fully grown. It has reached its maturity.
It is ready to serve its God-given purpose. And so here it speaks
of the mature Christian, perfect in that regard. The second word,
complete, is similar. This speaks, too, of the good
result of the smelting process, the burning off of the dross,
and it leaves this unblemished character. It removes all those
imperfections and weaknesses. If we’re in a midst of a trial,
you can bet that God is in the midst of burning off some dross,
some unnecessary character quality of our lives. and He’s purifying
us for His usefulness. The third reference there, very
similar again, lacking in nothing, speaks of being fully supplied
for the task at hand. God will not ask anything of
us for which He has not fully equipped us. So if He takes us
through a trial, He will give us the grace to endure. And if
He puts us to use because of that trial, He will equip us
to that end, so that we are lacking in nothing, complete, perfect. Well, that brings us to our third
point, and the third point is the longest, so if you thought
I was racing through this, settle in. The third point, glorifying
God in our trials. If we’re going to glorify God
in our trials, not only must we embrace God’s sovereignty
in them and develop spiritual maturity in them, We must pursue
divine guidance in the midst of trials. We can’t think that
when we come to a trial, we’ve got it all figured out, that
we understand exactly what God has in mind here, and we just
pursue the course naturally. Doesn’t come naturally. Suddenly
there’s a play on words here in verse five. He had just told
us that God’s whole purpose here is that we might be lacking in
nothing. But then suddenly in verse five,
but if any of you lacks wisdom, this whole thing is intentional
by James. God’s whole purpose is that we
would lack nothing, but if we do lack, God has that covered
too. Glance at verse five, but if
any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God. James desires,
indeed God desires, that believers would be lacking in nothing.
Particularly, he mentions in verse 5 that they should not
be lacking in wisdom. And it isn’t just wisdom in general. Wisdom kind of disconnected and
disassociated with the rest of life. There goes a wise man. In fact here, it’s wisdom in
direct connection with trials. We know how to manage this. We
know how to process through this. We know how to carry and conduct
ourselves in the midst of this trial. Because we have gleaned
from God wisdom. It’s a wisdom to know how to
navigate, to remember and realize God’s sovereignty in these trials,
to understand their purpose, to grasp the lessons that God
desires that we learn through these trials. It’s wisdom in
that connection. And as we’ve seen, God does not
just allow trials to drift into our lives indiscriminately. He
sends them purposely. He sends them according to his
sovereign purpose and design for our lives. And our need,
James indicates, is to glean wisdom from God, to see them
as God sees them. Events that ultimately burn off
the dross of sin in our lives and draw us closer to God and
make us more dependent on his grace and ultimately to bring
about the blessing of divine joy. It makes us more useful
for Christ’s kingdom. And to do that is not only difficult,
even for the most faithful godly believer, it’s only possible with divine
assistance. We need the grace of God to see
these trials God’s way. And to see that the trial itself
and the lesson that is to be gained are not just inconveniences,
they’re full of instruction for us. And to grasp this, we need
wisdom, God’s wisdom. We need God’s perspective. James
is not alone in this plea for divine guidance that enables
us to grow as Christians according to God’s plan. Paul also links
the ideas of Christian maturity and perfection. He links them
with wisdom, divine guidance, the focus of this very passage. Everyone needs the wisdom of
God in order to navigate the trials and challenges of life.
James isn’t doubting our need here. He has no doubt that everyone
has a desperate need of God’s guidance and trials. We could
just as easy speak of this need, not as if, but when. He’s urging
us to an acknowledgment of our need of wisdom. Literally, it’s a God help me
proposition. You see, the worst thing a person
can do in a trial is to foolishly assume that they don’t need God’s
guidance. Everyone needs wisdom. Everyone
needs the wisdom of God. Everyone needs guidance in the
course of trials. And so James here is urging believers
toward not just a wisdom of sorts, but specifically wisdom regarding
the handling of our trial. One pastor described it this
way, it is the moral discernment that enables the believer to
meet life and its trials with decisions and actions consistent
with God’s will. How does God want me to respond
to this particular trial? You see, we fall into many trials
that test us in which we can and do and often sin. If we don’t seek appropriate
wisdom for our trial, we will blow it. Remember, James is urging
us to work out our faith, not in a classroom, not in theory,
but in practical godliness in the day-to-day activities of
life. And all believers need this wisdom,
every last one of us. And the common experience of
trials is sure to bring us to that realization. Have you ever
noticed that this one thing about human nature? How wise we seem
to be and how apt we are to provide advice to others who are going
through a trial. And then when it’s us, we hit
the wall. What exactly is wisdom? The first thing we would note
here is that first and foremost, it’s a divine attribute. In the
grandest language known to man, Paul speaks of the outworkings
of the mind of God in Romans 11. Oh, the depth of the riches,
both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable are
his judgments, unfathomable his ways. Romans 11, 33, Paul speaks
of the subject in human words. But in doing so, he acknowledges
that the subject is far beyond our comprehension. The knowledge
and wisdom of God is the ordering of all things according to His
sovereign will, according to His purposes. He knows what He’s
doing. God intends to do a thing, and
in his wisdom, it guides the process from beginning to end.
One scholar described God’s wisdom in simpler terms. For our edification,
wisdom, he says, is his ability to select the best means for
the attainment of the highest goal. That’s God’s wisdom. Wisdom is first and foremost,
as I said, an attribute of God, but it is one of his communicable
attributes. It’s a character quality that
he seeks to develop in every believer. Knowledge is not the same thing
as wisdom. Sometimes we come across a Christian
that is knowledgeable beyond belief, but They lack completely
in the area of wisdom. We gain knowledge by reading
and studying, but wisdom is gained practically by observing and
pondering and evaluating. Wisdom does not come with experience
necessarily. Wisdom does not necessarily come
with age. Wisdom does not come with a degree
granted by an institution of higher learning. may be imparted to us, but if
it is, it’s by God. What an incredible blessing this
is. One Puritan pastor called it the grandest and rarest acquisitions
possible to man, to have wisdom. To know and understand and apply
that knowledge through the exercise of wisdom, what a glorious promise. It is the discretion that sees
and selects a God-honoring end and then pursues it for God’s
glory. God provides this through His
Word. He provides it by His illuminating Holy Spirit in our lives. We
desperately need this wisdom. And if we’re to live God-honoring
lives, it’s indispensable. In and of ourselves, we can never
be wise, not independently, but we can become wise as God enables
us. Wisdom doesn’t fall to us by
chance. It’s given to us by God. It is
learned through His Word. It’s developed over time through
patience and diligence. It is what one Puritan called
the council chamber of heaven. Isn’t that an amazing thought?
That we have a place where we can go and we can ponder God’s
ways in application to our trial. God’s council chamber of heaven.
God lets us in. In fact, God invites us. He wants
us in this council chamber. Just as will all of God’s graces.
Wisdom does not come without seeking and asking and without
a relentless and faithful pursuit. When we receive wisdom from God,
it is the same nature as God’s wisdom. Isn’t that amazing? We
tend to think of a wise person as someone who’s moderate in
the exercise of his liberties. Someone who’s very careful and
frugal with his money. Someone who keeps a good mood
and temper in the midst of a difficulty.
Those things can be indications of godly wisdom, but the wisdom
of God stirs us to set right and honoring goals and to take
the appropriate steps to achieve those goals. And so when it comes
to trials, the desiring goal of coming to a right understanding
of the nature and the purpose of the trial, it requires the
application of wisdom. This is Job’s endeavor, right?
Gaining wisdom so as to comprehend God’s ways and purposes. Completeness,
maturity is the goal. We need to be growing to a point
where we can navigate through a trial
without losing our joy, without having it drained out of us.
That takes wisdom. the trial is new or if the trial
is one that we have not yet handled correctly in the past, we will
need wisdom. So where do we get it? Paul tells
us there’s a universal need for wisdom. He tells us at the end
of verse five, the divine availability of wisdom, it’s right there for
us. Would you look at verse five?
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to
all men generously and without reproach. And it will be given to him. There’s no doubt that everyone
needs wisdom, the divine perspective in trial, our own wisdom, one
godly man equated with nothing more than weeds. Our homespun
wisdom is like weeds in your garden. Great image. What we
really need as believers are not the weeds of our own human
wisdom, but the sweet, beneficial wisdom of God. And so for that,
we are to pray. We’re to ask. We’re to seek God’s
wisdom. Asking is one of the basic words
for prayer. If any of you lacks wisdom, all
you have to do is ask. All you have to do is pray. We
are to turn to God and humbly ask. God will not be surprised
to learn that we are bewildered in the moments, that we are dumbfounded
in the face of a trial. We don’t know which way to turn.
He knows our frame. Of all that our omniscient God
knows, he knows that we need his wisdom. God is the resource for wisdom,
not ourselves. Job 32.8, he tells it this way,
the breath of the Almighty gives understanding. We don’t figure
things out on our own. When we do, we fall flat on our
face. Our all-knowing God is the inexhaustible fountain of
wisdom. If we know God, we know that
he will meet our need in that regard. And so the word translated
here is ask. In particular, it’s very often
used of someone in an inferior position. It’s the word that
Jesus used of the son asking his father to encourage prayer. What man among you, when his
son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? And so by using
this word, James points those who are desperate for God’s wisdom
to the sure means of tapping into that supply. prayer, making requests, asking. All you have to do is ask. And
when we’re in a trial and we need God’s guidance in the midst
of that trial, we’re commanded to pray. And for the well-trained
child of God, this practice becomes all the more natural When the spiritually impoverished
Christian believer draws near to his God, he acknowledges that
God, not himself, is the source of all spiritual riches. We have
the biblical example in King Solomon, do we not? 1 Kings 3,
5 in Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God
said, ask whatever you wish me to give you. Verse 9, Solomon,
give thy servant an understanding heart to judge the people, to
discern between good and evil. And that’s exactly what God provided.
I’ve done according to your words. Behold, I’ve given you a wise
and discerning heart. He was wise beyond all others.
Solomon knew. Solomon knew where to turn. Solomon
knew for what to ask. Would you glance at verse five
once again? If any lacks wisdom, let him
ask of God. What is the nature of this God? Notice this little phrase, who
gives to all men. Beautiful image in the Greek. It presents wisdom as a dear
friend of God, nestled close to him. And this phrase proclaims
the benevolent nature of our God. He’s a giving God, always
giving. No wonder we’re urged to come
to him. He’s eager to meet our need. He’s eager to supply our
lack. He’s eager to cover our wants. It’s nothing short of
heart-rending that the believer, the unbeliever, has such a low
view of God, right? And the infinite wealth available
to him, The ungodly sees the Lord God as stingy, miserly,
not the Christian. The Christian knows God to be
benevolent, knows God to be generous beyond measure. He knows God
the Father is eager to meet our needs. He not only gives, he
gives generously, James says. He gives to all men generously. This almost goes without saying,
but James tells us plainly that the giving God gives generously. He tells us that not only is
God by nature a God who gives, but that when he gives, he gives
abundantly. When Paul is discussing the great
variety of gifts in the church, He says in Romans 12, 8, that
he who gives with liberality, same exact word. His implication there is that
the way that God gives is generously, just lavishes us with his gifts
and graces. The word literally indicates
a simplicity, a singleness of mind. And it carries with it
the idea of giving without demanding anything in return. With God, there is no quid pro
quo, right? There are no ulterior motives
with God. God wants to let us in on the
secret of trials by giving us wisdom, and he asks nothing in
return. Amazing. And even if we’re inclined to
respond to him in kind, we could never out give God. God gives
and he gives graciously. He exercises his benevolent goodness
freely. You will remember, of course,
that when the prodigal son finally came to his senses, he returned
to the father, looking only for a job as a hired hand, right?
And the man would have nothing of it. And as a representation
of God himself, he lavished the repentant son with all the bounties
and privileges of sonship. A family name, a robe, a ring,
shoes. Such is our God. He’s a gracious
giver. Nor likewise, James says, is
there any reproach. He gives generously and without
reproach. God doesn’t give as we give.
He doesn’t put us in debt when he gives to us. He doesn’t take
this opportunity to bring up the veritable grocery list of
sins of which he’s forgiven us. Now you know. He doesn’t measure our unworthiness. He doesn’t chide us for past
thanklessness. He doesn’t rudely recount all
his past favors and blessings granted to us or that we’ve misused
and squandered what he’s already given. That’s not God. All of
that describes the way people tend to give, doesn’t it? God’s
not like this. He doesn’t chide us about the
frequency of our coming or about the amount that we still seek.
He just tells us to ask. Would you glance at verse five
once again? If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who
gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will
be given to him. And so the equation is worked
out in full. We lack, we look to God, we humbly ask. And the
good, loving, giving God gives abundantly and graciously, overwhelmingly,
God will respond. God will mercifully open his
benevolent heart and hands. He will give. And so the question
is, how can we not ask? Even though James was not an
overt believer in Christ during his earthly ministry, he was
a listener. And he did recall here the echoes
of Christ’s very thoughts in the Sermon on the Mount. ask,
and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock,
and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives.
He who seeks, finds. And he who knocks, to him it
will be opened. God knows. God hears. God gives. And so in this we
see not only the universal need of wisdom and the divine availability
of wisdom, the proper request of wisdom. Would you look at
verses six through eight in closing? James just says, but let him
ask, when you ask, ask. God wants you to come. God wants
you to ask. When you ask, let him ask in
faith without doubting. For the one who doubts is like
the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not
that man expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. It’s interesting
here that Luther, who wasn’t a big fan of this letter initially,
he appropriately called this one sentence one of the best
verses in the epistle. James urges, just as he would
regarding our approach to salvation, that faith must be the foundation. Faith is presented throughout
the Bible as necessary in attending our prayer. Without faith, it
is impossible to please him, Hebrews 11. When one goes to
God to ask, he must believe that he is willing and able to provide
for our need. As Jesus said it, all things
that you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive. Asking must be in faith. Likewise,
faith here is presented as the very nature of the spiritual
life of the Christian. We walk in faith without doubting. James is not desiring to allow
anything unclear, and he drives this point home, gently urging
believers to eliminate any uncertainty, any doubt, The word rendered
here, doubting, is capable of a number of different translations.
Its basic meaning is to decide. But here, however, the phrase
into which the word is embedded refers to indecision. What one
described as judicial hesitation. I know what God said. I know
the wisdom he gave me. I know what I’m supposed to do.
I don’t know. A child of God must not waver
when he or she asks for God for wisdom in a trial. It’s the inability
here, it’s really unwillingness to choose one way over the other,
to move when God says move. The facts are in, the case is
clear, the direction is abundantly supplied and still, such a person
hesitates, challenges, disputes, doubts, vacillates. Unbelief
is a lack of faith in God. It’s actually born by doubt,
either in God’s willingness, in his generosity, or a doubt
of his ability, a doubt of his omnipotence, a doubt of his inexhaustible
resources. Simply put, doubt is not faith. James closes with this, a beautiful
illustration. The one who doubts is like the
surf of the sea. driven and tossed by the wind. It’s just one of
James’ many spur-of-the-moment illustrations. He’s an amazing
writer, divinely gifted. And this powerful writing style
is captured so often in his tone and his use of words and his
phraseology and his passion, his creativity. James uses more
than 70 words that no other New Testament writer even uses. but he imports these or creates
them on the fly, these graphic illustrations used to illustrate
his points and principles. And here in this closing paragraph,
James cautions against asking for the Lord’s counsel, his wisdom,
and then immediately beginning to doubt the very wisdom that
God provides. Such a person is likened, he
says, to a helpless vessel caught in a violent ocean, driven and
tossed by the wind. Let’s not be like that. In the
midst of our trials, let’s go to God. Let’s go to God in faith.
Let’s ask him for the wisdom needed to guide us in our trials. Would you humble yourself before
him now?