WISDOM FOR OUR TRIALS

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on March 27, 2024 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: March 27, 2024 from James 1:5-8

Theme: God gives wisdom for trials to those who ask—but only to those who ask in sincere faith in the God who gives it.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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There’s a saying that made an appearance in popular culture a few years ago: “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” It’s a saying that has a rather notorious origin, and it was used to justify some rather unscrupulous actions. (Frankly, I almost hesitate to begin a Bible study by quoting it.) But I must quote it because, for the follower of Jesus, there’s a sense in which it represents a great spiritual truth.

Under the sovereign hand of our faithful heavenly Father, no crisis that we can ever meet up with can possibly be outside of His good plan for us. He causes all things to work together for the good of those who love Him—even the seemingly hard crises of life. And for that reason—as we saw last week—Pastor James began his wonderful letter by exhorting his readers:

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:2-4).

For us as followers of Jesus, all of the crises of life—as unpleasant as they may feel at the time—are truly ‘good’ in their ultimate intention in the hand of God. And therefore, we ought not ever to let such a good thing go to waste. We should allow God to do in us what He intends for each crisis to accomplish; so that by means of that crisis, we’re helped to grow into the image and likeness of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But how are we to do that? How are we to allow any particular crisis in our lives to perfect us? How do we go through that trial in such a way as to let God produce that eternal good in us that He desires? That requires a wisdom that is greater than any wisdom we naturally possess. And so, in the context of undergoing trials in such a way as to gain the greatest spiritual benefit from them, Pastor James then goes on to say;

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways (vv. 5-8).

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There are a couple of ways that we can know for certain that James is talking about ‘wisdom’ in the context of ‘trials’. First, in the original language, he began verse 5 with the conjunction that’s translated as “and” or “but”. The New English Translation rightly includes it by translating verse 5, “But if anyone is deficient in wisdom …”; making it clear that there’s an intentional continuity between verses 4 and 5. And second, the word that’s translated as “lack” in verse 5—in the phrase “If any of you lacks wisdom”—is the same word in the original language as is used in verse 4; where it says, “that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” It’s as if James was saying, “And speaking of being complete and lacking nothing; if any of you lacks the wisdom necessary to go through trials, let him ask God for it.”

And who among us doesn’t need wisdom for that? James didn’t say, “Now; since you all lack wisdom …” because—quite frankly—we don’t need for him to say that. We already know—as soon as we enter into a trial—that we lack wisdom for it. But the fact that he said, “if any” underscores the need each one of us individually has for it—and highlights the great invitation James gives us to ask our heavenly Father for it. It’s how we make sure that—in the truest and most honorable sense—we never let a good crisis go to waste in our lives. But if we ask our Father for such wisdom, we must be committed to trusting Him for it and to act faithfully upon the wisdom He gives us.

James’ instruction to us in verses 5-8 shows us that God gives wisdom for trials to those who ask—but only to those who ask in sincere faith in the God who gives it.

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So; let’s first consider …

1. THE GREAT PROMISE (v. 5).

And it truly is a very great promise. James tells us, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”

Now; what is this thing called ‘wisdom’? It’s not necessarily the same thing as ‘knowledge’—as good and desirable and necessary a thing as ‘knowledge’ is. ‘Knowledge’ is a matter of accurately possessing the information about a thing. But ‘wisdom’ is a matter of grasping how to put that knowledge to use in a way that truly honors God and accomplishes His good will in our lives.

Consider another passage in which Pastor James speaks of wisdom. In James 3:13-18, he wrote;

Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace (3:13-18).

There is a so-called ‘wisdom’ that is strictly earthly in nature; and it only leads to evil and contention—and puffs the heart up with pride—if it isn’t guided by the true ‘wisdom that is from above’. And that second kind of wisdom cannot originate from us. We can only possess it if the God “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3) graciously gives it to us. We must go to Him for it. As Proverbs 2:1-9 tells us:

My son, if you receive my words,
And treasure my commands within you,
So that you incline your ear to wisdom,
And apply your heart to understanding;
Yes, if you cry out for discernment,
And lift up your voice for understanding,
If you seek her as silver,
And search for her as for hidden treasures;
Then you will understand the fear of the Lord,
And find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom;
From His mouth come knowledge and understanding;
He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
He is a shield to those who walk uprightly;
He guards the paths of justice,
And preserves the way of His saints.
Then you will understand righteousness and justice,
Equity and every good path (Proverbs 2:1-9).

And here’s the wonderful promise that James affirms to us. If any of us lacks the necessary wisdom to go through our trials in a way that pleases God (and we all naturally do), then we can freely ask Him for it; and He will give it to us. In fact, we can ask God our Father for all the wisdom that we need for any situation at all in life, and we have the promise of His own word that He will give it to us.

Look at how willing God our Father is to give this to us. When James says “let him ask of God, who gives to all”, he literally says, “let him ask from the giving God”. That’s how our heavenly Father is characterized—as ‘the giving God’. It’s His nature to give; and He’s eager to give wisdom to anyone who sincerely desires it. James even says that He will give to all “liberally”; that is, freely and simply and sincerely. He’ll never act like He’s about to give it; and then pull His hand back and say, “Wait a minute … before I give this to you, I want you to give this or that to Me.” He’ll always give without any hidden motives—without any strings attached. And James also says that He gives to all “without reproach”; that is, without resenting us for asking, or rebuking us for having needed to ask, or scolding us for having to come to Him repeatedly. As one writer put it, He always gives wisdom to us in such a way as to make us wonder why we didn’t ask sooner.

So then; James assures us that, if anyone—anyone at all—sincerely asks God for wisdom, “it will be given to him.” This is an inexpressibly wonderful and rich offer. It’s one that we can place our trust in right now—whatever our trial is, whatever our need might be, whatever circumstance we may find ourselves in, whatever ‘various trials’ we may ‘fall into’—knowing that, if we sincerely desire it, He will gladly give us the wisdom to go through the experiences of life in a way that pleases Him and accomplishes His good design for us. This truly is a great promise!

But we must remember that with this great promise also comes …

2. THE NECESSARY REQUIREMENT (v. 6).

James went on to write, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.”

When James speaks of asking “in faith”, he means that we must have an attitude of complete trust in God and confidence in the wisdom that He gives us. There must not be any ‘doubting’ or ‘wavering’ in the sense that our commitment is conditional—that we’re committed to following God’s wisdom one moment, but are then ready at another moment to abandon God’s wisdom if we think something better has come along. And the word that James used in the original language for “doubting” is one that means “to make distinctions” or “to make judgment calls”. It’s what happens when we sit in judgment of God’s wisdom, and seek to decide for ourselves whether or not we will do as He says.

As James has put it in 1:22-25,

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does (James 1:22-25).

Our prayers for wisdom are based upon our confidence in the promises of God in His word. And as John Calvin once put it, when we pray for wisdom without genuine faith in God’s promises, we pray deceitfully. There must be no ‘wavering’ in our commitment. We must ask with a sincere, whole-hearted willingness and readiness to do as God’s wisdom leads us to do.

To be honest, this kind of faith can be very hard to exercise in a time of great trial. At such times, we’re often under pressure to do things that fallen ‘human wisdom’ might demand that we do. We might find ourselves under the pressure of other people who give us some very ungodly advice. We may even be tempted to find an easy way out of the godly obedience that our trials would require of us. And unless we’re whole-heartedly committed at such times to submit ourselves to God’s wisdom, we will become as easily thrown around as the waves of the sea—“driven and tossed by the wind”.

The waves of the sea are the very picture of unreliability; aren’t they? You may look out at the ocean and see a particularly beautiful wave, turn to a friend next to you and urge them to also take a look, and then find—when you’ve turned back—the wave is gone. You may be fishing, and set your tackle box on a wave for a minute so you can pick up your rod, and then turn to reach for your tackle box to find that the wave has drifted away … and the tackle box with it. Waves are utterly subject to the forces around them. And that’s how someone is whenever they ‘make distinctions’ between whether or not they will obey the wisdom that God gives them in trying circumstances. Such people may want to obey one minute; but they then become influenced by the circumstances the next minute into changing their mind … and end up following the dictates of their own passions.

Our heavenly Father is gladly ready to give wisdom to whoever of His children might ask. But they must “ask in faith, with no doubting”. That’s the necessary condition for ‘receiving’.

And that leads us to—finally—consider …

3. THE SERIOUS WARNING (vv. 7-8).

With respect to the person who asks with doubting, James wrote in verses 7-8, “For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord …” And the fault is not with the Lord or with His promises. The fault is with the one who asks. James says, “he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

God is very gracious in giving wisdom to anyone who truly seeks it from Him, and who is sincerely committed to doing what He wants them to do—and all so that God’s good purposes are fulfilled in them through the trials that they endure. But God our good Father also isn’t going to play games with us. He does not want to be thought of as just another resource for us to draw from in our own authority—and to then decide whether or not we want to do what He says. He sees into all of our hearts and knows where our true commitments lie. We can be very grateful that He is merciful. He’ll forgive us when we fail, and will not scold us for coming back to Him in repentance. But He won’t give His wisdom to those who will arrogantly sit in judgment of it … or who will habitually disobey His instructions if they don’t like them.

James explains to us what such a man is like. He says that “he is a double-minded man …” Literally, James says that he is a man of “two-souls”. He has an inner disposition that desires God’s wisdom, but he also has an inner disposition that will not follow through on God’s instructions if he doesn’t like them. And note how James describes the condition of such a person. He is “unstable in all his ways.” His instability isn’t just in the area of trials, but also in all areas of life. He is like what the old Chinese proverb says about a double-minded man—that he’s like a man who has his feet in two different boats.

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Now; at the end of His Sermon on The Mount—a sermon filled with the rich wisdom of our Lord—Jesus said,

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall” (Matthew 7:24-27).

How much better it is to have our feet firmly planted on God’s wisdom in a time of trial—and to have our hearts solidly committed to doing as He says! We then become stable in all our ways—especially in the times of trial when we need His wisdom most!

So then; we ought never to let a good trial—in the hand of our sovereign Father—go to waste. And He’ll show us how to put that trial to use, if we will ask, with sincere faith, for His gift of wisdom.

AE