A Word in Season: Asking for Wisdom (James 1:5)

Asking God for Wisdom in James 1:5

I don't know if it is a precious promise to you, but I think it is precious to many believers. It's a promise about a petition, and it's found in James chapter 1 and verse 5, where James says, 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.

What is wisdom? Well, it's the opposite of foolishness. It's discernment. It's understanding. It's the ability to take something that you know and apply it to life, so that you can live in a way that pleases God.

It's essentially the skill of righteous living, of understanding a situation, or a need, a demand, and being able to bring the Word of God to bear on it in such a way as to make the right decisions and to take the right actions.

It's the opposite, as we've said, of foolishness. It's what fills the space where our simplicity, our lack of discernment and understanding often will be. And James tells us that here's a promise for any of us who might lack wisdom.

Human Need for Wisdom in Every Calling

Now, I don't know if there's any clear-thinking Christian who would say that they have all the wisdom that they need for every situation. Whether or not we're pastors or parents, if we're labourers in the church, if we're members in the congregation, if we're going out into the world to work, if we're staying at home for our labour, whatever our circumstances, our pressing need is wisdom.

You might think of Solomon, who, when he was appointed the king of Israel to follow his father David, was given an opportunity by God to ask for whatever he wanted. And Solomon's great concern, in view of the responsibility that was laid before him, was that God would give him wisdom.

He'd be able to discern what was right under various circumstances. And here, then, is a promise for those who lack wisdom. In other words, for every Christian who wants to know how to live to please God.

Asking God, Searching Scripture, and Walking Wisely

If you want it, you need to ask for it. You need to go to the God who is all-wise. You need to go to the God who is perfectly righteous, perfectly knowledgeable, perfectly holy, infinitely and entirely all of those things.

And he is liberally going to bestow wisdom upon those who ask it. He is going to give it without reproach. God does not upbraid us because of our ignorance, our confusion. Rather, he would have us come to him and, with the burden of responsibility upon us, to ask him to equip us to live in a way that pleases him.

So, when was the last time you asked for wisdom? When was the last time you pleaded with God to show you the right way? It might be a particular decision that you need to make. It might be at home or at work or in the church.

It might be about a conversation that you need to have. How will I speak? When will I speak? What words will I use? With what spirit do I want to come? It might be something that seems very simple, very straightforward.

It might be the ordinary challenges of an ordinary day. Or it may be some particular issue that you're wrestling with, some momentous decision, perhaps, that you have to address. How will you know what is right?

How will you be able to do what pleases God? You need wisdom. Now, that's not a request, as it were, to throw out all the means that God has given to us. There are various ways that we can obtain wisdom.

We can ask other people, wise men and women, to counsel us. We can search the Scriptures to see what God has made known. But we need God to show us the way. With all that information coming in, with all that knowledge being offered to us, what we need then is the ability to discern what pleases God in order that we might walk in his ways.

Praying for Wisdom in Daily Decisions

Now, I can't imagine that there's a Christian who's listening to this who doesn't need wisdom for today. Where will you get it? Well, you might find it in a number of places where God has deposited it.

But wherever you find it, you need to get it with prayer, asking that God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, will give to you the wisdom that you need to decide and to act in a way that pleases him.