Wisdom to Walk through Trials: James Lesson 5

 Let’s open our Bibles once again to James 1. We are a few weeks now into this very important section of Scripture that is teaching us one of life’s most challenging lessons. We are learning what is required if we are to honor God in our response to the trials of life. Life is full of trials. Man was born for adversity. As surely as sparks fly upward from the fire, so trials are an inevitable part of life in this world. In this world you will have tribulation.

 James has given us, in verses 2-4, the first three of those things that must be true of our response to trials if our response is to glorify God. First, we must respond with the right attitude. We must “consider it all joy when we encounter various trials.” As we encounter the variety of trials we encounter, our estimation of each trial is that it is an occasion for supreme rejoicing. This was the truth of verse 2.

 Helping us develop that attitude is an understanding mind. We can consider trials an occasion for supreme joy if we know that the testing of our faith is producing endurance. We rejoice in trials because, in our minds, we understand that God is working His perfect will in our lives. He is testing our faith for the purpose of proving it to be valid. He is testing our faith to prove to us the value of our faith. This was the truth of verse 3.

 This attitude, combined with this understanding, will then, allow us to endure the trials with a submissive will. We must “let endurance have its perfect result, so that we may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.” We treasure the trials when we see the benefits the trials produce, which is spiritual maturity. All true followers of Christ can look back on the times of trials and see that those times of trials were times of great spiritual growth. If we value the product we will also treasure the refining process which produces the product. We should want our lives to be purified so that they reflect the image of the Righteous Refiner, the Lord Jesus Christ. We will want His reflection to be seen in us as we endure the refining process caused by trials.

 So this is a piece of cake, right? You have been so instructed by these verses that you have no problems with these instructions, right? I have a strong suspicion that none of us can say that this is easy. We can memorize these verses and quote them to ourselves over and over, even when the trials show up, and yet, we will probably still find it something of a struggle to respond with the joyful attitude. So, why is this so hard for us? What is missing? What is the problem?

 There is one possible answer, but it is the answer I hope is not true for anyone here. It is the answer for anyone who walks away from the faith because of trials. We all know people who once claimed faith in Christ, but have now walked away from the faith. It is always a trial that causes them to walk away. It may be a trial as severe as the death of a loved one. Or, it may be a trial of false teaching, or a crisis in life that causes them to question the existence of goodness of God, but it is always a trial that prompts people to walk away. If this is what happens, these people prove themselves to be shallow soil hearers.

 Listen, we can not measure one’s true spiritual condition by their initial response to the gospel. Luke 8 tells us that the rocky soil hearer received the word with joy. They heard the gospel. They believed the gospel. They were happy when they heard the gospel and believed its message. They even remained for a while. But it is the times of testing that cause them to fall away. But listen, trials cannot destroy genuine faith. Trials will serve to test our faith but never destroy it. Trials prove the value and validity of our faith. True faith will endure through every trial.

 So, if the problem isn’t that our faith is not genuine faith, then what is it? If we have been through some of the tests of faith and our faith is strong, but we still struggle with the right attitude, or we still lack the complete understanding, or if it is a challenge for us to submit our will to God’s plan and remain under the trial with a joyful attitude, then there is another possible explanation for our struggles. The problem is that we lack the wisdom we need as we face the trials. We need wisdom from God to undergird everything we have learned thus far. We need God’s wisdom to guide us through the trials. We need to understand our trials from God’s perspective.

 Picture three pancakes on a plate. The bottom pancake is the attitude of joy, the middle pancake is the understanding mind, the top pancake is the submissive will. This plate of pancakes needs something. It needs syrup. Hot, sweet, maple syrup. Those pancakes are perfect if they are saturated with maple syrup. This is what the wisdom of God does for our attitude, our understanding, and our submissive will. The wisdom of God does something remarkable when our attitudes, knowledge, and will are saturated with an understanding of God’s wisdom.

 At the heart of what James is teaching us in verses 5-8 is that we need to realize that God’s perspective on our trials is the only reliable perspective. God’s wisdom brings God’s perspective to bear on our trials. Let me illustrate this. How many of you enjoyed the week long experience of thick, soupy fog we had this past week? Thick fog makes driving a particular challenge. When it is foggy you can’t see when it is safe to pass. You just have to wait patiently while the 90 year old person in front of you drives 15 miles an hour down a two lane highway. On a clear day you could pass them easily. But you don’t have a perspective of the road that lets you know when it is safe to pass.

 If you could see the road ahead from God’s perspective you would be able to make a perfect decision. If the fog didn’t impair your vision you would know how to navigate around that obstacle in front of you. Look, God’s perspective is perfect. He isn’t impaired. He knows what lies ahead. He knows when it is time to pass and when it is time to wait behind obstacle. It is the same way in our trials. God knows what lies ahead because His perspective is unimpaired, completely unimpaired. He sees the future as well as the present and the past. This is why we need His wisdom in trials.

 It is the wisdom of God that helps us understand all we need to understand in the trials. His wisdom is a resource far greater than any resource available to or from the natural man. God offers specific, special, spiritual insight to assist us with the practical challenges produced by the trials we encounter. God promises this wisdom.

 It is important to understand the difference between what we want to know and at we need to know. When we encounter various trials what is it that we want to know? We want to know how long the trial will last. We want to know the fastest and least disruptive path out of, or away from the trial. We want to know how to fix the issue as quickly and painlessly as possible. We want to know how to avoid any further encounter with this kind of trial. But are these the things God wants us to know? Are these the things we need to know? The wisdom God promises and provides will reveal to us the things we need to know.

 What are the things we need to know in our trials? These are the things God is willing to reveal as we ask for His wisdom when we encounter trials. We need to know what God is doing in the trial. Is this trial chastening? Has this come to me as a result of my sinful choices? Will God reveal this? Yes. If we are His child, in dwelt by His Spirit, He will convict of sin, righteousness, and judgment.

 Is God, in this trial, trying to reveal something to me I need to see? Am I too self-sufficient and not utterly dependent upon Him? Am I too much in love with the world, and not setting my affections on things above? Am I proud? Is God sending the trial to humble me? These are the things we need to know and God will give us this wisdom.

 Is this trial part of what God has ordained for me to prepare me for His service? Is my experience in this trial going to give me an opportunity to counsel others or comfort others as they encounter trials? Am I being taught patience?

 You see, the wisdom that God promises to give as we ask in our trials, is the wisdom to understand what we need to know, not necessarily what we want to know. Perhaps a true measure of our spiritual maturity is the fact that when we encounter the trials, we ask of God because what we want to know has genuinely become what we need to know.

 Let’s look at this promise of wisdom needed for a God-honoring response to trials. It is here stated very clearly in verse 5. “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” This may be the most helpful and hopeful promise in Scripture. If you lack wisdom and you ask wisdom of God, it will be given to you. This is a powerful promise. 

Note what is not promised. We not promised relief if we ask. We are not promised deliverance from the trial if we ask. This may not be the wisdom we want so we can figure out how long the trial will last. It won’t be wisdom to figure out what the next trial is most likely to come. But it will be the wisdom we need to help us figure out how to glorify God in our response to the trial. This is what James is telling us is promised. If we lack the wisdom to be able to consider the trials our supreme joy, or if we lack the wisdom to know how God is testing our faith to produce endurance, or if we lack the wisdom to see how the trial is being used to mature us and strengthen our faith, God will give that wisdom if we ask of Him.

Let’s understand what this wisdom is that is promised. The Greek word is “Sophia.” If you know a woman or girl named Sophia, her name means wisdom. The wisdom promised is skill in the affairs of life. It is practical wisdom. It describes one who is wise in management of the issues of life, able to formulate the best plans utilizing sound judgment and good sense. This wisdom is the ability to correctly apply knowledge to the circumstances of life.

So, when we ask God for wisdom asking God to give us skill and practical wisdom and the ability to wisely manage the issues of life related to the trial. We are asking Him to help us formulate the best plans utilizing sound judgment and good sense. We request the wisdom to correctly apply knowledge to these trying circumstances in life.

What we are really asking is, “God, how can I glorify you in my response to this trial?” We are asking because we don’t want to waste our encounter with the trial. We are asking for an understanding of our trials from God’s perspective. We are asking God to help us focus more on what God is doing in us than what the trial is doing to us. We are demonstrating our desire for spiritual progress rather than relief from the discomfort. We are showing God our desire to make the most of the opportunities for spiritual progress.

We are putting into practice a biblical principle outlined in Prov. 3:5-6 that we can probably almost all quote. If we ask God for wisdom we are showing Him that we are trusting in Him with all our heart, not leaning on our own understanding, but in all our ways acknowledging Him, and asking Him to make our path straight.

It is important to ask God for this wisdom. We won’t get the wisdom we need from within ourselves. It isn’t there. We must remember that if we listen to the world’s advice to “listen to our hearts” our hearts will deceive us. Jeremiah tells us that our hearts are more deceitful than all else, so deceitful and sick that even we don’t understand how deceitful it can be. We won’t get wisdom from within ourselves.

We can learn from Job that we are not likely to get the wisdom we need in trials from our friends. He had three friends whose sole purpose in life was to help Job understand what was going on in his trials. His trials had to have been the result of some gross sin. They were wrong. James doesn’t tell us to ask our friends for wisdom in trials because they won’t be any more help than Job’s friends. We need our wisdom to come from God.

You won’t get this wisdom from the world. The wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God are not even close to compatible. Jerry Springer, Dr. Phil, and Oprah all lack the wisdom that will help us know how to honor God in our trials. We simply need wisdom from God. Prov. 2:6 tells us “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.” This is a wonderful promise that we will have the wisdom we ask if we ask it from God. He alone is the Provider of this wisdom.

Look at the provision of this wisdom from God. “Let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach.” “Let him ask of God” is an imperative command, not an option. We are not obeying God in our trials if our trials are not driving us to our knees in prayer where we ask. One of the best things to come from the most recent trials in our family, with Ryan, is that it has driven us to cry out to God asking for wisdom in the face of some really tough trials. We were crying out to God because there was no one else who had the answers. I’m not sure we even realized it but we were obeying God when we were asking Him for wisdom.

Here is a mistake we often make. Too often, I fear that too many of us don’t ask of God when we are facing the small trials. We wait for the big ones before we start to ask God for wisdom. If we wait to ask God for wisdom, only when we face the big trials, my friends, we are among those who lack wisdom. We don’t ask for wisdom in the small things because we are confident in our abilities to handle the small things. This is a manifestation of our problem with pride, which does not please God. We are commanded to ask God for wisdom. “But if any of you lacks wisdom…” does not mean that perhaps some of you don’t lack wisdom. It would probably be better translated, “because you lack wisdom, ask of God…”

 Look at this remarkable promise. “It will be given to him.” This is an incredible source of encouragement, and hope. This is truly one of the greatest promises found anywhere in the Bible. God’s wisdom will be given to those who ask. No wisdom requested that will help us persevere through the trial will be denied to the humble, trusting Christian who asks of God.

 This wisdom is given generously, and without reproach. It is given freely, without hesitation, without reservation. God is not stingy with His wisdom. And He gives it “without reproach.” The word reproach means to defame or disparage. God won’t rail at us because we don’t have wisdom. He doesn’t call us idiots because we blow it. He won’t assail us with abusive words. He isn’t going to chide us and deny us wisdom because we should already know better. He gives His wisdom to those who ask and He gives it generously and without reproach.

 We have seen the promise. God promises wisdom to those who ask. We have seen the provision. God’s wisdom is given generously and without reproach. There is also a prerequisite. We find it in verse 6. “But he must ask in faith without any doubting.” The KJV translates the word “doubting” as “wavering.” The original word literally means to be in strife with oneself. It conveys the idea of doubting, disputing or debating.

 When we ask with faith which is free from doubting and wavering, we are demonstrating our commitment to utilize the wisdom God promises to give. This means that we will banish doubts from our hearts and minds regarding this promise to give us wisdom. Because God has promised to give us this wisdom we will believe God gives it and we will respond to the wisdom He gives by applying it to our circumstances. We won’t strive with God over the wisdom He gives. We will accept His wise counsel as that which is right. 

We acknowledge that God knows best what He is doing. He is perfect in all His counsel. We understand that if God brought the trial into our lives, it was exactly what we needed for His work to be done. Without doubting means that we embrace His sovereignty and rejoice in His providence and trust in His promise that when we need wisdom, when we ask, He gives us exactly what He promised.

When we ask in faith for the wisdom God promises to give, we know we are asking for something that is in His will to give. Jesus promised several times, in John 14:13-14, in John 15:16, and John 16:23 that if we ask anything in His name, that is anything consistent with His will, we know that we have what we asked of God.

In Matthew 21 there is an account of Jesus cursing a fig tree and it miraculously withered. The disciples were amazed that what Jesus had commanded came to pass so suddenly. In response to their amazement Jesus said in Matthew 21:21-22, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

Now we all understand that Jesus is not giving us a blank check. Everything we ask and are promised to receive is to be consistent with His will. That is what it means to ask in His name. The mountains Jesus mentioned are not literal mountains. They are representative of the big things which only God can do. This is important my friends, because sometimes the trials we encounter are bigger than mountains. Mountains can be conquered with enough effort and determination. We can get over them or go around them and sometimes we try that on our own. We don’t need God’s wisdom for that. But if we want the mountain moved and cast into the sea, we need God’s wisdom for that.

When God takes a trial as big as a mountain, and He uses it to be glorified in our lives, when we learn to respond to mountain sized trials as the occasions of supreme joy, when we know that God is using the trial to test our faith to prove it as real, when we submit our will to the will of God in using the trial to mature us in the faith and conform us to the image of Jesus, when God has granted us the wisdom to deal with our trials like that, that mountain of a trial has literally been taken up and cast into the sea. That mountain of a trial is transformed from an obstacle into an opportunity for God’s glory and our good.

If this is not the result in trials, then the problem is revealed. The problem is stated in verses 6b-8. “for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” There are some who should not expect to receive the promised wisdom from God. Those who doubt cannot claim this promise. The one who doubts is described here as one without stability. This describes the one with whom nothing is settled. He has no confidence in God or His word. He never learns how to truly trust God in trials. He is always fretting when trials are encountered. He is always anxious, fearful, unsettled in heart and mind. 

That person ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord. He certainly will not receive wisdom. Wisdom is wasted on the unstable person. This stands in complete opposition to the promise of Jesus who said that we have what we ask if we ask in accordance with the will of God. The problem is never with God. The problem always rests with those who will not trust and obey God.

James further describes the problem with the faithless person as being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Double-minded is a compound word which literally translates “two-souled.” The double-minded person is two-souled. This is a description of the person who claims to love God while really loving the world and himself. This is the description of the person who trusts God when it is easy and abandons his faith when it is hard. This is the man whom John Bunyan, in Pilgrim’s Progress, said is named, “Mr. Facing-Both-Ways.”

The double-minded person is one way on Sunday and another way every other day of the week. The double-minded person is one way when he or she is around other Christians, and a completely different way when he or she is at home. A double-minded person opens his Bible at one point in the day, and the completely inappropriate website at another time of the day. The double-minded person proves his or her love for the world, while at the same time claiming to love God.

This person is unstable in all his ways. His double-mindedness will impact his spiritual life, his work, his marriage, his relationship with his children, and his attempts to convince others of his Christianity.

In the Scriptures this morning we have encountered a tremendous promise in these verses. Since we lack wisdom, we must ask of God, and it will be given. This is the promise. The provision is abundant. God will give this wisdom generously, and without reproach. The prerequisite is that we ask in faith, without any doubting. We have also addressed the problem. The one who doubts is tossed around, being double-minded, and unstable in all his ways.

This isn’t instruction we file away, or forget completely. This is stuff we can use whenever we encounter trials. May God seal this truth to our hearts.

Let’s pray.