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James 1:5-12
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Why God Seems Silent in My Suffering James 1:1-12
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. 5 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. 6 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. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. 9 The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. 10 But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business. 12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. 2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds. Last week we began studying this passage and discovered that God does not expect us to be joyful because of our painful circumstances, but because our painful circumstances can reveal the goodness and faithfulness of God. We can learn about God’s goodness through Bible study, but we really don’t understand just how good he is until our trials force us to depend upon his goodness. We can be joyful in trials because we see more clearly the goodness of God. Jesus is the object of our faith. If our concept of Jesus is small, our faith will be small. But as our understanding of Jesus increases, so does our faith. The size of our faith is related to the size of our God.
But if God promises to take care of us during times of testing and to not give us a trial which is beyond our ability to bear, why does it so often feel like we are facing trials on our own? The answer is so deceptively simple that we miss it all the time. He doesn’t help us simply because we forget to ask. This is one of the main reasons why it often seems like God is not present with us in times of need—we simply did not ask. We assumed that since he is a perfectly good God that he would help us, but this passage in James says that we need to ask God for help.
I’d like to read you one of my favorite passages in Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia. This is from the Magician’s Nephew. In this part the main characters, Diggory and Polly, have just hurriedly been sent off on a very important mission by Aslan the lion, who is the Christ figure in the story. After a long trip on the back of a flying horse named Fledge, they finally stop for the night to rest. “I am hungry,” said Diggory. “Well, tuck in,” said Fledge, taking a big mouthful of grass. Then he raised his head, still chewing and with a bit of grass sticking out on each side of his mouth like whiskers said, “Come on you two. Don’t be shy. There’s plenty for us all.” “But we can’t eat grass,” said Diggory. “H’m, h’m,” said Fledge, speaking with his mouth full. “Well—h’m—don’t know quite what you’ll do then. Very good grass too.” Polly and Diggory stared at one another in dismay. “Well I do think someone might have arranged about our meals,” said Diggory. “I’m sure Aslan would have, if you’d asked him,” said Fledge. “Wouldn’t he know without being asked?” said Polly. “I’ve no doubt he would,’ said the horse (still with his mouth full). “But I’ve a sort of idea he likes to be asked.”
This is what James is saying about our Master and Savior Jesus Christ. He knows what you need before you even need it. But James agrees with the flying horse who said, “But I’ve a sort of idea he likes to be asked.” Jesus likes to be asked—not because he has some kind of complex in which he feels left out unless he is consulted about our business, but because he knows that when we ask we are developing a healthy dependency on the good and faithful God. If God seems silent in your suffering it may be that you have not asked him.
Sometimes a one-word prayer—HELP—is all we can get out, but James instructs us to be more specific that just a generic prayer for help. Verse 5 says, 5 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. Do you want to know the secret to turning trials into triumphs? Do you want to know how to be joyful in the tests of life? Then you need wisdom. Wisdom is the key to surviving suffering and James assumes we all lack wisdom. The question, “If any of you lacks wisdom, is written in such a way that it assumes we will ALL lack wisdom. It also communicates the idea that this is an ongoing request—a daily prayer for wisdom. God does not infuse us with wisdom after our first request.
But before we ask God for wisdom we better make sure we understand what we are asking for. According to the book of Proverbs, what is the beginning of wisdom? “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” If you do not fear, respect and reverence the Lord then you can never receive wisdom. Also, we tend to think of wisdom as being guidance of some kind. When someone you know is in the hospital, how many times have you prayed a prayer like this? “Lord, please give wisdom to the doctors so they can help Aunt Betty to get well.” Haven’t we all done that? I know I have. But is this the Biblical understanding of wisdom? In the Bible, people with wisdom, known as a wise person, does the right thing.
Contrastly, people who lack wisdom, whom the Bible calls a foolish person, does the wrong thing. Therefore wisdom can be defines this way: WISDOM = Right beliefs + right actions. Wisdom is both knowing the right thing and doing the right thing. Our tendency is to limit the idea of wisdom to the level of knowledge only. We think a wise person is someone who is smart or consistently gives good advice. Such a person may or may not be wise. But a truly wise person is one who knows the right thing and then does the right thing. Here are three basic options available to us.
1. FOOL Does not believe God and acts like he does not believe God 2. WISE CHRISTIAN Does believe God and acts like he believes God. 3. FOOLISH CHRN. Says he believes God but acts like he does not believe God.
Now which one are you? All of us are somewhere between a wise Christian and a foolish Christian. Here is the real dilemma—foolish and trials do not go together. When you experience trials without the benefit of wisdom, then you make foolish choices that bring you more trials. The first set of trials were not under your control, but the second set of trials were directly brought on by your own foolishness. Suppose a man experienced the trial of losing his job. Because he has no income there is an increased temptation to do wrong. Maybe he is tempted to stretch the truth on a resume. Maybe he takes a few side jobs but does not report them on his tax return. When this man had a job he was never tempted with these evil choices, but the trial of losing his job may not have been his fault, but the sinful choices he makes in the midst of his trial will cause his trials to accumulate and possible bring yet more sinful choices—all due to a lack of wisdom.
The third barrier we have with trails is that we do not understand the goodness and amazing generosity of our Lord. Let’s read verse five again, . 5 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. God is the ultimate source of wisdom for two reasons. First, he is God and is himself perfect wisdom. But what if God were not willing to share his wisdom with us? James tells us that if we ask God for wisdom, our prayer for wisdom will be answered—not just because God is the source of wisdom, but because he is generous and wants to give us wisdom. He will not hold back. I like the way one commentator said it, “God does not scold his children for asking nor berate them for their deficiency.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary, p. 169) God knows we lack wisdom and he knows we need it to get through the good times and especially the hard times—and he is wonderfully generous with his gift of wisdom.
James said, “and it will be given to him”. There is a certainty in that verse—if you ask for wisdom it will happen—nothing can prevent God from giving wisdom to those who ask. However, in the very next verse an exception clause is added. This is not fine print tucked away at the bottom of a contract making the agreement to receive wisdom null and void. This condition is plainly stated and unavoidable. Yes, God will always grant wisdom for those who ask, EXCEPT for those who doubt. . 6 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. 7 That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.
Our first response to this verse is to think, “Oh man, I am lost! How can I have the faith to ask God and never have any doubts? I have doubts all of the time!” Don’t fret just yet. Some doubting is good. Luke tells us in Acts 17 that the Bereans were naturally skeptical. Even though they had the apostle Paul teaching them, still they searched the Scriptures daily to see if Paul’s teaching aligned with the Old Testament. (Acts 17:11) This teaches us that some doubting or a healthy skepticism can be good.
This brings us to the amazing similarity between discernment and doubt. It is helpful to look at the meaning of doubt in the original language that James was using. Krino (κρίνω) is the word which means “to separate” and diakrino (διακρίνω) literally means “to separate through” and is usually translated as “to judge” or “to discern”. It’s easy to see why diakrino is translated this way. Think about the role of a judge. He or she must make a choice—a separation, between two options—either this person is right or the other person is right; this is either good or it is evil. This is the same process with discernment—we make a choice or a separation between at least two options. Judgment and discernment come from the exact same Greek word. But the surprising thing is that this same word is also translated as “doubt”. When we make a judgment we are presented with two options and then we make a decision, but when we doubt we are presented with two options and we sit in indecision. Fear and uncertainty immobilize us. Doubt is a paralysis of action. Discernment, judgment and healthy skepticism are good, but the second cousin to discernment is doubt and James says this will block your prayer for wisdom.
After all, what is we are doubting? We are doubting the very nature and character of God. Is God strong enough to handle my painful circumstances? Is God loving enough to want to help me? Is God generous enough to give me the good things that I need in time of trouble? This is why doubt turns us into some degree of foolish Christian—we say we believe God but we act as if we don’t believe him. When we place our faith in Christ he becomes the object of our faith, but when we doubt, Christ becomes the object of our doubt. If I plan to jump from an airplane at 10,000 feet I want to make sure I have a well-packed parachute. In this instance, the object of my faith is the parachute. I don’t have to be strong. I don’t have to have blind faith—I just need reassurance that the object of my faith—my parachute—is trustworthy. Would I jump out of a plane holding an umbrella? I could not possibly muster up enough faith to do such a thing because my faith does not depend on me, but on the object of my faith. An umbrella is not worthy of my trust. But is Jesus Christ worthy of your trust? In times of trial we need wisdom to know and do the right thing. But if we doubt the trust worthiness of Jesus, we will not get the wisdom we so desperately need.
A fifth reason it seems that God is silent in our suffering is because we believe false ideas about God. Let me give you an example. Hank Hannegraff, in his book Christianity in Crisis tells of Larry and Lucy Parker, adherents of Word of Faith teaching. Their son, Wesley had diabetes, but they refused to give him insulin because they had been warned about the dangers of making a negative confession. Thus, they continued to “positively confess” Wesley’s healing until the time of his death. Even after his death, the Parker’s, undaunted in their “faith,” conducted resurrection services rather than a funeral. Eventually, the Parker’s were convicted of manslaughter and child abuse. Their so-called faith deluded them into thinking that God could not let their son die.
We may not go to such extremes as the Parker family, but we can hold equally dangerous beliefs. If God does not answer our prayers in the way we want them to be answered, there are two basic explanations. Either personal sin or doubt is preventing the answer we want, or else the answer we want is not God’s answer. If we believe that God is here to serve our needs—to keep us from great harm—to assure us of health and happiness—then we have faith in a false God.
James has another description of doubt—he calls such a person a “double-minded man”. Again, a glance at the original language helps us. Double-minded literally means “two souls”. It is like you have a dual personality—one side of you desires to take the step of faith, but the other part of you is paralyzed with fear and indecision. Last week I spoke with a good friend of mine who has endured over a year of infidelity from his wife. Karen and I spent three years in a Bible study with both of them. He has been unbelievably patient, loving and forgiving through his ordeal. After talking with him it became obvious that my friend’s wife is a perfect example of being double-minded. She has not taken any action toward divorcing my friend because she does not want to lose the good things that a husband and family give her. But she does not want to abandon her sin of infidelity because she has fallen in love with her sin. My friend actually said this about his wife, “it is like she is two different people.” This is a classic case of being double-minded. Most people are not double-minded to the extreme as my friend’s wife, but every time we have a test in life we are faced with the decision—will I trust God or not? Every single test and trial is a new opportunity to trust God. Do you ever get worried or fearful about a situation in life? Are you ever indecisive when faced with important decisions? Do you see how all of our fears and anxieties flow from a lack of faith? And that our lack of faith comes from an improper view of God. If God is all-powerful and all-loving, like we say he is—why should we be afraid? Our fear comes because we don’t truly believe in the God we claim to believe. Our Sunday morning God is big and powerful—able to handle any problem we might face. But our weekday God is much smaller by comparison. When we have fears, doubts and are double-minded it is because the God we worship in the daily trenches of life is NOT the God of the Bible!
Another reason it seems like God leaves us alone in out trials is due to our great riches and wealth. Riches delude us into a feeling of self-sufficiency. Look again at vv. . 9 The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. 10 But the one who is rich should take pride in his low position, because he will pass away like a wild flower. 11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich man will fade away even while he goes about his business. At first glance it appears as if these three verses are misplaced. Verses 2-8 are clearly talking about trials and testing of our faith. Verse 12 is also—but vv. 9-11 seem to have nothing to do with the subject of trials. It seems like James has broken away on an unrelated tangent for three verses and then gets back on target again.
This is not a tangential thought. The book of James has several hard-hitting things to say about the dangers of riches. This first one is related to the subject of doubting God in the midst of trials. If you are rich and have multiple resources at your disposal, you are much less likely to depend upon God to get you through a difficult time. To be poor is to have fewer choices in life. Therefore, a poor man can “take pride in his humble position” because he has a greater opportunity to trust God.
I’ll never forget a conversation I had with an African student while I was in Seminary. He was working for InterVarsity and was very short in his support raising. Support raising was one thing I hoped I would never have to do in my life, so I was quite impressed with his faith. I asked him how he could get by with so little money coming in. Without missing a beat, he looked confidently at me and said, “It is an opportunity to trust God.”
God may seem silent during your present hardships, but James makes it clear that the problem is with us. Next week we will take all of the principles from the first twelve verses and apply to some real life trails.
Rich Maurer June 20, 2004 |