“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

 

It’s time to smarten up

 

Most of us have a relatively sufficient amount of intelligence and for the most part enough common sense to get by. Everyday situations don’t befuddle us, and we can usually handle the ordinary decisions that life is filled with.

 

When reading the beginning of this chapter in James (James 1) and right on through, we see that James is speaking specifically of trying times, times that are more difficult than normal. It’s in those situations that our source of intelligence and common sense are not enough to make wise decisions.

 

The Living Bible paraphrases the verse like this: “If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask him, and he will gladly tell you, for he is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask him.”

 

I love that! “If you want to know what God wants you to do …” That’s the wisest choice. So if we don’t know what God wants, then we are lacking wisdom, and the only way to gain it is to ask Him!

 

There are so many times when life gets hard, and we find ourselves thinking “I just don’t know what to do anymore.” That’s a huge RED FLAG that we are lacking wisdom. It’s definitely time to ask God to give us His wisdom for the situation.

 

Sometimes God’s wisdom doesn’t make sense to us. But James tells us in verse 6 of the same chapter “when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to tell you.” (TLB paraphrase). If you are expecting Him to tell you, then just trust and apply, even if it doesn’t make sense. If you want to read the most obvious account in Scripture of this very thing, read 1 Kings 3:16-28. That story puts God’s wisdom on full display!

 

God is so willing to give us everything that we need, but especially His wisdom. Think about how “wise” we think we are compared to our children. Don’t we wish they had our wisdom to apply when they needed it? Wouldn’t we freely and joyfully give it to them if they asked? Jesus said to the crowd on the hillside “If you… know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

 

When we are unsure or totally confused, when we are hurting and don’t know where to turn, when a situation is difficult and we can’t see how to handle it, we shouldn’t hesitate. We should recognize our limitations and understand that we are lacking the wisdom to deal with whatever it is. We should ask God for wisdom! If we ask, trusting that He will answer, He will generously, not frugally or sparingly, BUT GENEROUSLY give us His wisdom to apply to the situation.

 

Reminder: God’s wisdom is always available and a most precious gift in troubling times