James, a little book of wisdom: facing up to doubts
Today’s wisdom:
If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do. James 1:5-8
My random musings:
OK, so surely we all lack wisdom. That’s the nature of being human, isn’t it? I certainly do. I mess up spectacularly on a regular basis. I stand before a situation with absolutely no idea what the right thing to do is. I would have thought by my age I’d have got it all sorted out, but it’s quite the opposite: the older I get, the less certain I am about anything! But the wisdom I’ve gained is the acknowledgement that I am lacking in wisdom – do you get what I’m saying? It’s not ‘If any of you lacks wisdom’, it’s ‘When any of you realise how much you are lacking in wisdom’ – that makes more sense to me.
God is waiting for us to ask. He is ready to give freely. Without conditions. Without terms. God wants us to live life as he intended for human beings to live. God is not setting us up to fail. At the moment you ask God humbly for His wisdom, it is not what has gone before that counts, but the attitude of your heart in that moment. Each of us can only ever start from where we are now.
This whole thing around doubt is interesting. I think it’s OK to doubt on occasions – it’s human nature to question and there should be arena where free and frank discussion can take place without judgement. But at those times when we are doubting, everything is up for grabs. It is like being adrift on a stormy sea. And that’s not the right moment to be asking God for anything beyond ‘Remind me of who you are’. In those times of instability, we need to strip it back to the basics – seek God in the natural world, in others, in the words of the Bible, in the teachings of Jesus…You cannot ask God for anything, trusting in a good outcome, until you come to trust again the generous and loving nature of this faithful, all-powerful God.
My questions for you:
Are you in a position to ask God for the wisdom you so desperately need to navigate this life in the modern world, or do you first need to work through your doubts about the nature of God? What’s the next step for you right now?
