James 1:5 – 8 5 “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith, without doubting, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
There used to be a TV commercial for a brand of men’s aftershave called “Aqua Velva.” In the commercial, a man who had just finished shaving suddenly found himself being slapped on the face by an unknown hand. The accompanying slogan read, “Thanks! I needed that!” Viewers were to believe that men using Aqua Velva Aftershave would find the tingle of the aftershave on their faces as bracing as a slap in the face. These men would then go out and do great things, now that their aftershave had wakened them up. (It seems like an awful lot to ask of some aftershave!)
The Book of James is a very short book; however, reading Jame is a lot like being the subject of that T.V. commercial. Line after line, James is doing everything he can to wake people up with verbal slaps to the face! First James starts by talking about the benefits of suffering. Now a few short lines later, James is addressing another common problem: that of the “mugwump,” the man who can’t make up his mind and who veers from one direction to another. Someone who is a mugwump has his mug, his face, on one side of the fence and his “wump” or rear end on the other.
Unfortunately, many of us behave like mugwumps, especially if we pay too much attention to news media. Go on – line or turn on the television and you can find all kinds of dramatic and eye – popping headlines. But headlines are generated to catch attention, and the articles may contain little or no truth. Your mind really will feels as if you have been caught in an ocean storm. You can easily become mentally seasick!
Where does wisdom come from? How do we gain wisdom? Someone once said that we gain wisdom by learning from our mistakes. But what if we make a mistake that leads to a deadly consequence? James has the answer: wisdom comes from God. God is a good Father who gives wisdom to anyone who will ask sincerely. If you pray and ask God for wisdom, you should be looking for His guidance. That guidance is most likely to come from the Bible, but God also uses friends and relatives and sometimes even strangers to help us.
When my mother was dying with cancer, my father was extremely distracted and expressed his confusion to a friend who was not at all religious. “But, Lowell,” this friend advised, “the Bible says that God’s ways are higher than ours..” and the friend went on to give my father Biblical advice that comforted him. Clearly, this was a situation in which God put His words into the mouth of a non – believer because that was what my father needed to hear at that point. God is a God of infinite variety and He will move everything to help those who cry out to Him.
Please notice something: James says that “God will give wisdom generously to all without finding fault.” Nothing is mentioned about being good enough or having met any other criteria. The only thing God requires from us is the humility to recognize that we need wisdom so that we will ask for it.
But it is not enough merely to ask; once we have received wisdom, we must act on it. When I was in general surgery training, I helped care for a man who was a severe diabetic. We had had to amputate one of this man’s toes because it became infected. At that point, the rest of the foot was healthy. I spent a long time with this man, urging him to be very careful about how he handled his feet, particularly stressing the dangers of his trimming his toenails too short. (Diabetics with poor circulation in their feet can easily develop infections from the small wounds left after aggressive trimming of toenails.) Unfortunately, several months later, this same man returned with a far worse infection and that time we had to amputate the lower part of his right leg, all because he had failed to follow simple instructions about caring for his feet. If we receive wisdom but fail to act on it, we are like someone who has been given the keys to a brand new car, only to continue riding a junky bicycle.
How do we know if we have received divine wisdom? James 3: 17- 18 has the answer: “But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness.” The mark of the Holy Spirit is peace. When you pray and ask for wisdom, start looking for God to give it. Also look for the peace. Because when the wisdom is truly from God, the peace will come.
PRAYER: Father God, please give each of us humility to ask for wisdom and then the wisdom we need. Help us not to be mugwumps, not to be double – minded, but to wholeheartedly follow you all the days of our lives. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
Burunche's Blog 
Leave a comment