James 1:5 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.
- Jer. 10:23
Where can we find the
understanding to use our trials in the right way? Through
prayer!
The
Prerequisite Needed James 1:6-8
Committing our problems to the
Lord involves asking our heavenly Father for wisdom because, naturally, we can’t begin to understand all that is
involved on our own.
It is
easy for us to have doubts and wonder where God is, and for some may even cause
them to want to shout at God in defiant anger.
So James
tells us to “ask in faith without any doubting.”
What
does it mean to ask in faith?
It means
first to ask without any doubting.
Doubting
and wavering in one’s mind is the primary idea here as the analogy to “waves
tossed by the sea” illustrates (vs. 6b).
diakrino
describes one who is divided in his mind and who wavers between two opinions.
The
prayer of “unwavering faith”
is a prayer that rests in the truth of Scripture regarding God’s person and His
promises, purposes, and principles, rather than on our own understanding or
perception of why or of how things appear to us.
He then exhorts us in vs:21 to deal with any wrong attitudes and actions and, in a spirit of humility, to receive
God’s truth, the implanted Word which is able to save (deliver) our
souls.
In the
flow of the context James calls for a full and intelligent appropriation of
God’s Word to produce an active and growing faith that rests in the knowledge
of God and His promises.
In
practical terms, then, just how should we approach our trials in prayer?
Our need
is to ask our loving and caring heavenly Father:
(a) to remove the
difficulty if it’s His will (Mark
(b) to use the test in our lives and in the
lives of others for His glory (1 Pet. 1:6, 7;
(c) to sustain and carry us successfully through the pressure so we do
not bring dishonor to His name or foul up His plan and purposes for our lives
and others (Ps. 55:22; 1 Pet.
4:15-16); and
(d) to give us the wisdom, the biblical attitudes, values, responses,
steps, and actions needed to handle the problem so we can act in a way that
honors Christ (James 1:5; Ps. 37:5-6; Prov. 3:5-7).
God uses
our suffering to get us to deal with four dangers in the Christian life:
(a) misplaced confidence (1 Tim. 6:17-19; Luke
12:15-21);
(b) misused privileges (1 Cor.
10:1-13);
(c) misguided priorities (Matt.
(d) missed reality (living in a sphere of hypocrisy and unreal
expectations) (Matt.
23:1f; cf. Isa.
The
issue is my thinking being renewed that's where it begins, acquiring the divine
viewpoint of life so that I am able to reflect the character of Christ, my
Savior, in my life?