One last lesson this week from James 1:2-8. We already seen that we are to count it all joy when you fall into various trials and that if we lack wisdom and ask God, He will give wisdom to us liberally and without reproaching us for the wisdom we might have wasted in the past.
James goes on and adds one last thought and that is the caveat. “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.” [NKJV]
Amid the joy in trials and the asking for wisdom there must be a covering of faith. The writer of Hebrews said it this way, “without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” [Heb 11:6 NIV]
While we are in this body on this earth, our relationship with our Father will be conducted through faith. We can’t hop a plane and fly to where He’s located and take a taxi from the airport to His office to visit with Him for an hour or so – as much as we’d like to on occasion. We must come to Him by faith, which is often difficult when we are assaulted by doubt or fear.
Yet each time we come to Him, each time we present our request for wisdom and receive it liberally, each time we sense His presence with us in the trials of life makes our faith stronger and stronger and our doubts and fears subside.
Father, we need your wisdom as the times grow more and more difficult. Be with us, we pray. Amen & Amen.
