My Frequently Forgotten Promise (James 1:5)

   "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him." - James 1:5

   So often as I'm on my way to deal with a problem, I pass by this very promise in James, that I should stop, ask God for wisdom in which I so lack, and go on to solve the problem. Why is that I act so much like one of those simple men, described in Proverbs (specifically Proverbs 1:20-33) who pass by the house of wisdom, ignore her invitations for wisdom being so focused on the matter at hand that they don't heed her generous cry. It's like an anxious man who's running back to put out a blazing fire at his house and as he's running, a woman comes out of her home with a long fire hose that is able to quench the blaze and says to the man "Sir! Would you like this hose." and the man says "I would love to negotiate with you ma'am, but my house is burning down, I don't have time to talk." and he continues on his way.

   We're like that man every time we forget to ask God to give us wisdom before we go out to do something. But yet, sometimes the problem isn't that we forget about this verse, but also we don't want to humble ourselves to receive that wisdom which is offered to us freely. Far worse, we sometimes reject it offhandedly because we figure we already have the wisdom that is able to solve the problem, though that isn't true, maybe so we can at least boast in our half-solved problems though it could of been fully solved by God given wisdom. Like a man refusing a cure to his cancer because he feels sufficient with cough drops, we don't accept the divine, Solomon-like wisdom of Christ because we try to accomplish things by our own, insufficient wisdom.

   Application: In instances, especially when I'm emotionally charged, where I need to solve a problem, I need to remember to stop, silently ask God for wisdom by faith, for then I have God on my side rather than just myself and my depraved wisdom to depend on. I also realize that in my frequent requests in prayer, I don't ask for wisdom from the Lord to tackle my day and the problems that come alongside it. I frequently ask for forgiveness and grace, I intercede, I ask for strength, I ask for humility, and more of His presence in my life, but I rarely ask for wisdom (which can probably explain my lack of wisdom and spontaneous solutions to problems.) So therefore I'm going to add wisdom to my list of requests I frequently take to the mercy seat of God.

Produces Patience (James 1:2-3)

   "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." James 1:2-3

    It has been said that when you pray for patience, God just doesn't give you patience automatically, but rather He gives you opportunities to exercise and grow your patience. Well though questionable, these verses from James seems to teach it.

   So often we, like impatient children, get so hung up with such small and trivial problems and darken our countenances, forgetting that "we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance." (Romans 5:3) And it's this very knowledge that our struggles grow us to be more patient and perseverance is what makes us able to get through the tough times, through those moments where misfortune seems to repeatedly befall us.

  Those times of misfortune, some of which have come today, seem to really frustrate me because I see them as arbitrary things that, in my mind, aren't supposed to happen. They are big stumbling blocks that keep me from being what I want (which I sometimes disguise as God's will). But instead, if I would rather see them as "tests of faith" from God to make me more patient, it changes everything, for it changes my outlook.

   God is more concerned about making me more like Jesus than accomplishing some grand purpose in His will. Actually that is His will, for me to "be conformed to the image of His Son" (Romans 8:29). Instead of wallowing over these various trials that befall me daily, I should see them as tests from God so that I may step up to the challenge of being more like His Son, Jesus. A biblical example is Job, whom God let the most faith-deepening of trials so that He might show, to Satan, how righteous His servant truly was, and so that God might later bless Job.

  "Count it all joy" Why? "For the testing of your faith produces patience." Yet still, why count it all joy? Because a patient Christian is a Christ-like Christian; for he will be bale to train the Peters, bear the crowds, wait on the Lord. Also a patient Christian is a happy Christian. Despite what the devil may throw at him. the patient Christian sees the trials as, not punitive judgment from God, but as a challenge to prove his faith. Also a patient Christian is an edifying Christian. Is it not amazing how the calm of one Christian can bring peace to the most stressful crowd even in the face of massing persecution and most heated of trials, for patience is also contagious. The patient Christian is also the loving Christian; for one of the pillars of love is patience (1 Corinthians 13:4) and is it not the patient Christian that can best endure the most blabbering of sobs and bear the most fieriest bursts of wrath and the most prolonged bouts of depression from other people. Surely a patient Christian makes the best minister.

   And finally, the patient Christina is the most rejoicing Christian for "patience (produces) character, and character, hope; and hope does not disappoint for the love of God has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." (Romans 5:4-5)

   Application: Therefor I will see the trial and moments that usually give me silent frustration, and see them as an opportunity to grow in patience and become more like Christ.