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.