"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."
What is wisdom? According to dictionary.com, wisdom is "knowledge of what is true or right coupled with judgment as to action." So, wisdom is applying knowledge correctly. As Christians, we have a great responsibility to apply the knowledge we have in a way that will bring glory to God.
So, where does wisdom come from? From God. And the amazing thing is, God love to give it freely without chastising us for asking. Now, it is easy to know that academically, but actually believing it, that is the hard part. That is why James says to ask in faith. When we ask God for something, we must have faith that God will give it to us. Now where does faith come from? According to Ephesians 2, it comes from God. So, if both wisdom and faith comes from God, we need to ask Him for both. However, God has given us enough faith and knowledge to be able to ask for wisdom without doubting. I would go as far to say if we ask God for wisdom, but doubt, we are sinning. When we doubt that God will do good, we are double-mined, a person with with two minds torn between God and the world.
Now, why would James talk about wisdom right after talking about trials? It can almost seem like a complete change of subject. However, part of getting through trials is having wisdom to know what to do with those trials. So, when we are going through a trial, let us ask God to give us the wisdom to properly apply the knowledge gleaned from that trial; because it is part of counting it all joy when we meet trials of various kinds.
So, those are just a few thoughts I had about these verses.
Soli Deo Gloria
1 comment:
Thank you, Josh.
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