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 when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
(James 1:5-8)
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God... First, we are all in this position. Relatively speaking. There is such a gulf of wisdom between God's wisdom and my wisdom. I will never have arrived, fully wise and needing no further instruction. I should always find myself in this verse. And in this verse I will always find the solution. Petition the One who can help.
...who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him... God will reject no one who truly seeks him. If we ask for wisdom and really mean it, he will give it. He gives wisdom to the one who murdered Christians (Paul), to the one who is late to the show (the thief on the cross), to the one who doubts (Thomas), and to you and me. Our sins do not bar us from obtaining this wisdom because our generous God is a forgiving God. He chooses not to find fault where he could. This verse is a promise worth banking on. In my poverty of wisdom, God delights and promises to give.
But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. What would the nature of a non-believing request be? It would be a mouthing of words, an incantation thrown up to luck. God is not glorified by that. If there is no belief, my request means nothing. It is no longer a request if I don't think I am talking to someone who is listening.
What is needed is any faith at all. Small faith can pray. It can lay hold of God and bank on a promise. Small faith can recognize encroaching doubt, and small faith can recognize even its smallness. Small faith realizes that if I am the author of my own faith, it is liable to be snuffed out in the rough wind.
But faith is faith. A mustard seed pinch of it will do. It is not about how big my faith is but about how big my God is. As soon as faith realizes this, to look outward, to look upward, to look anywhere other than inward, it takes root and holds and banks on promises and glorifies God unto salvation.
I need to believe enough to think that God is God and that God is listening.
I do not think this verse means that we can never have doubts. Look at Thomas. Look at Peter. Look at anyone honest who has been a Christian for awhile. Having doubts does not mean we do not believe in God and that we do not love God. We cannot control our doubts, but we can control how we react to them. If someone challenges our faith in God, we may suffer a moment, but how do we react? Do we re-approach God in prayer? Do we talk with other Christians? Do we seek out the wisdom of those who have provided answers for the hope that is within us? Or do we cower and allow the flame of faith to be extinguished?
I think this verse means that doubt ruins the asking and works through the request like a poisonous leaven. Let's say I believe in God and that I ask him for something, but I doubt whether he is listening or wants to answer. Let's say I am questioning his goodness or his wisdom for some particular situation. That doubt will be the lens through which I view my circumstances, instead of faith. As things happen to me, my belief in God and in the power of prayer will latch on to the fact that God will answer. I know enough to know that God may not answer in a way that I initially wanted. But faith lays hold of Romans 8:28 and recognizes that God is wiser. Having Romans 8:28 in my heart is like a strong balancing weight for my ship as the waves come. Lacking it leaves me at the mercy of the storm, always second-guessing and wondering whether God is up to something or if he even cares. I must pray believing things like Romans 8:28.
That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. Being double-minded. I do not really think this means going back and forth between believing in God and not believing in God. The category we are working with is someone who thinks they might receive something from the Lord. We are saying that he will not. I think that instead of mere belief, we are talking about commitments of the heart. We want to have our cake and eat it, too. We want to hold on to some particular sin and still receive the blessings of God without repenting.
God is asking us to put away our double-mindedness. He wants our whole selves. He wants us to burn our idols to the ground, to cut our ties to our own ways of finding peace and joy and security. He wants us to cast ourselves fully on him, to burn our ships. To have no more to do with sin. All this for our good.
I have found that when I stop scheming and worrying and planning, when I sit down and read God's Word unhurriedly, when I read it believing-ly, God draws near to me. I cannot control God, but I can control myself. And when I draw near to God, he draws near to me. (Save the discussion about who draws first for another time and recognize the fact that nothing is more important in this moment than that I run to God! That I draw near to him by any means possible! Oh Spirit, draw me into prayer and fellowship. Let me know the sweetness of fellowship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!)
May God help us pursue him single-mindedly, without doubting. Oh, that we might go through life confident in the grace and goodness of God because the cross really happened. Jesus really was God. He really died for my sins. He really rose. Many saw him, testified about him, recorded it for later generations. God really loves me! That fact is the greatest fact that I will ever know. Oh that I would know it more.
I feel with great power the prayer of the man who said, "I believe, help my unbelief." This man addressed his request to the right place.
Soli Deo gloria!
