“When they were up they were up and when they were down they were down and when they were half way up ……… they were Christians”
The Grand Old Duke of York! What a great Pastor?! He had his work cut out, he had 10,000 in his church!
Sorry for those who haven’t a clue who the Grand Old Duke of York is!
It is just so difficult considering our trials and difficulties with ‘all joy’. It can be a difficult message to hear. How do I know whether to ask God to deliver me from these trials or to strengthen me within them?
But James knows this, that’s why in his next breath he says:
Get wisdom
“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.” (Hebrews 1 v 5-8)
We desperately need heavenly wisdom, if we are going to be able to go through the trials. Note the repetition of the word lack, James is wanting the Jewish Christians to aspire to completeness, wholeness, and he gently says ‘if any of you lacks’, but probably he’s saying ‘since you all lack’, the realisation that we as followers of Christ do lack, ‘ask God for wisdom’.
Wisdom helps us to see more clearly.
Wisdom is knowing God with a living heart-knowledge which gives real insight into life, into right and wrong, which regulates conduct and shapes our whole selves, it goes way beyond knowledge, it illuminates our intellect. Wisdom is equivalent to practical religion. It is far superior to knowledge.
Wisdom is to see things clearly, having a godly insight into things as they are. Seeing earthly things and temptations as they really are. If we have this wisdom we won’t lack.
And to encourage us to ask for this James reminds us just what God is like:
He is generous – whenever we ask for wisdom God will give it, and he gives it to all, to anyone who asks.
And wonderfully he gives without finding fault – he doesn’t meet us in our trials and suffering and say to us, ‘What on earth are you doing now, don’t you know how to get out of this!?’ Or ‘Look at the fine mess you’ve got yourself into now!’
We must ask!
How? With confidence and certainty. These verses are not meant as condemnation by James, he’s not saying those of you who doubt or struggle or wrestle with stuff, won’t receive from God, rather he’s saying don’t be looking to God half-heartedly, looking to God but really looking to other places for help as well.
Be sincere when asking God for wisdom, just in the same way he is completely sincere about giving it to you.
How amazing it is, that to obtain such godly wisdom all we have to do is ask.
We don’t have to study harder or get qualifications. James isn’t saying to us if we lack wisdom we should read more, go and visit more teachers, or become more learned. If you want to learn theology you have to study it, to become a doctor or lawyer or anything else you’d have to study. But this is different.
This isn’t about a head knowledge but about the heart. This wisdom is seated in the human spirit, God’s spirit dwelling within us. If it’s divine wisdom we require, we are to ask. The insight, that is so clear and vivid and so perfect, is from God. It comes to us from the Spirit that dwells within our hearts.
May our prayer be one today of ‘Lord, grant me wisdom, wisdom to see things the way you see them. Wisdom so that I will lack nothing.’
Sometimes we’re so keen to pray and ask God to remove the suffering, to get us out of it, rather than ask for wisdom through it. We need wisdom to make the right use of it.
We need to see wisdom as the prized possession.
Missions Paul 