Need Wisdom?

James 1: 5: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6: But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7: For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8: A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

God gives believers the strength to bear trials because through them God matures his children to remain steadfastly fixed on Christ. (v4) Trials are needful to grow us in knowledge and understanding of the full, free, finished atonement of Christ Jesus the Lord. Is there any believer who feels as if they lack wisdom? If your answer is the same with every other believer then this passage will be of great importance to you.

What is "wisdom" spoken of in this phrase? If one is wise then he is a skilled expert, able to form the best plans and use the best means for their execution. This describes only one. God alone is wise. (Job 28: 12, 12; Ro. 16:27; I Ti. 1:17; Jude 1:25; Job 11: 6) God makes Christ Wisdom unto all those he put in Christ. The mystery to natural religion is Christ, the Way, the Truth and the Life. Christ is the Wisdom which God has hidden from the wise and prudent of this world and revealed unto babes. (I Co 1: 30; 2: 6, 7; Col 2: 2, 3) The deep things of God, which the Holy Spirit speaks in the hearts of the quickened is the pardon and peace accomplished for us by Christ Jesus the Lord. (Jn 15:26; He 8:12; 10:22; 12:24; I Co 2:9-11) How could something as painful as trials bring us good? Look to Christ on the cross and see! Do you want to grow in knowledge and understanding of Christ and him crucified? God says that if any of you lack wisdom there is but one place where it may be found, and only one way that it shall be given, let him ask of God.

But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. The comma in this sentence separates two things diametrically opposite of the other, faith and wavering.

Faith believes God is willing and able to supply every need. Faith asks of God prepared to submit to God's Way. (Pr 1: 5, 6; 2 Co 9:8; Heb 7:25) When Wisdom reveals that Christ is Righteousness and outside of him, I am sin, faith says, "Yes Lord." When Wisdom reveals to me that before or after conversion, I can do nothing to be more perfect than I am in Christ, faith says, "Yes Lord." In the midst of trials, I may think my purpose has been the glory of God, the furtherance of the gospel and the good of his people, but when Wisdom says, "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding, " faith says, "Yes Lord." (Ps 3:5, 6; Heb 10:22)

Opposite, of faith is wavering. The wavering man is double minded. Though he draws near to God with his lips, his hidden motive is the flesh. (Job 11: 4-6; Is 29: 13-16) The Spirit declares this man is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. There is no more stability in him than in water. The slightest pressure, from peers, from the world, from every wind of doctrine, tosses him like a wave on the sea. The Spirit of God says, V7:...let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8: A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.