Asking for Wisdom
“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.”
James 1:5-6 NKJV
What does it mean to ask in faith? Based on the verses before and after it seems to mean to ask without bias in the outcome, trusting in the Lord, whatever the answer may be.
The verses leading up to this have to do with the perfecting work of trials in our lives. The verses after have to do with examples as to the type of trials we might be asking for wisdom about. The rich being made poor. The lowly being exalted. God moving in the lives of His children, oftentimes to reveal to us our hearts direction.
So we ask in faith, trusting that if God is moving our lives in a particular direction, He is doing so according to His will. That direction might include being exalted, but it may also involve being trodden.
But to cry out “WHY” in despair, wanting to be free from the trial without accepting the lesson God is teaching us in it, is to be double minded.
To be double minded is to have our focus on two different or competing things at once. My will and Thy will. This world and the Kingdom. He makes it clear that this man is unstable and should not expect to receive wisdom from the Lord as to his trials. Not because God is holding out. But rather because he is incapable of understanding. Let us first repent and fix our eyes on Jesus, trusting Him with the trial and the sanctifying work that trial is accomplishing. THEN… we will receive wisdom as to what the Lord is doing.
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