Procuring Wisdom (James 1:5-8)

In Israel, in addition to rulers such as kings and judges, there were three kinds of leaders –the priests, the prophets and the wise. The wise men were distinguished from the others in that they normally gave counsel about current circumstances or about everyday features of life. We can see this threefold distinction in the Old Testament literature: some of the books focus on the role of the priests, others detail the words of prophets, others on the lives and activities of the kings, and others are accounts of wisdom. I suppose we could say that priests instructed the people about the law, prophets rebuked the people when they departed from the law, and wise men reflected on providence and drew spiritual lessons from their observations.

What is wisdom?

Wisdom in the Old Testament was varied in how it assessed life. The Book of Proverbs is a compilation of wisdom sayings, usually only a sentence long, and generally says that, if you live a godly life, things normally will go well. The Book of Ecclesiastes goes beyond that and points out that even if you live a godly life you are going to lose everything eventually, and that what matters is that a person should fear God. The Book of Job deals with how a man who feared God lost everything and how wise men were not able to provide all the answers, and how eventually the man who feared God was vindicated.

James here is reminding us of one of the marvellous features of New Testament Christianity in that he says that every believer can be what unusually gifted people were during the Old Testament period. We are familiar with the way Christians are prophets (in the sense that the convey God’s message to other people) and priests (in the sense that they can intercede for others). Here James says that they can also be wise and find themselves able to make accurate assessments about life.

Wisdom, we can say, is the ability to use knowledge correctly. Some people find it easy to accumulate knowledge, but that is not a sign that a person is becoming wise. Instead it is a sign that he or she could become a wise person if they discover how to use their knowledge. There is a difference between having an opinion and being wise. An opinion can be very shallow and often is only a statement of ignorance. A wise person does not offer opinions, instead he offers wisdom based on serious reflection. We can, or should be able to, see the difference between an empty opinion and a serious contribution on TV chat shows. An opinion can be ignored if it is worthless, but wisdom should be taken seriously. I think that is why Job always responded to the comments of the three friends. He knew that they possessed wisdom, and were not merely offering opinions. Yet he knew that their wisdom was not large enough to explain what was happening to him in his distress and he therefore responded to them with wisdom. Job reminds us that if a person possesses wisdom on an area of life he should speak.

The situation that James’ readers faced was one of increased difficulties because of their Christian commitment. He mentions in his letter some of the problems that they were encountering. When problems or difficulties come to Christians, such as what we are facing today in our fast-changing society, we can see different responses. Some react like headless chickens, running around doing lots of things but not thinking about why they are doing them, as if increased activity was always the answer. Others put their heads into the sand and imagine that something is not there because they cannot see it – but it is there. Or some will try and find solutions elsewhere, perhaps trying to find answers from other groups within society, which can be helpful – the wise in Israel were prepared to learn from people outside Israel, although not all that is said can be described as wise. Others resort to living in the past or more accurately to live in what they imagine the past was like. What James’ readers needed, and what we need is wisdom.

Since James explains areas of wisdom in this letter, it could be that this opening passage is like a table of contents indicating what he is going to describe. He does point out in 2:13-18 that there are two kinds of wisdom, one that comes from evil and one that comes from God, and we will think about those differences when we get to that passage. Here he speaks about the wisdom that comes from God.

We can see from James’ instruction here that he expected lack of wisdom to be unusual among God’s people. We can see that from his description of a person lacking wisdom – he is not the usual kind of person that a Christian should be. Moreover, we can see from his exhortation that the lack of wisdom is unacceptable, that a believer should not be content to be without wisdom, and that others should not be willing to allow another believer to be unwise. Yet in addition to being unusual and unacceptable, James’ words indicate that the problem is solvable, and like a wise doctor he provides the remedy. His remedy is very straightforward.

The great Old Testament example of a man who asked for wisdom is Solomon. His request of God to give him wisdom pleased the Lord who then gave to Solomon many other blessings as well. A New Testament example of wisdom is Stephen – he was one of the men chosen to sort out a problem of administration in the Jerusalem church, and one of the qualifications for being selected to do so was the possession of wisdom (Acts 6:3-5). Luke also says about Stephen that his interactions with others about the gospel were marked by wisdom (Acts 6:10). Paul prayed that the Ephesians would be given the spirit of wisdom (Eph. 1:17), and he urged the Colossians to admonish one another in wisdom and to walk in wisdom to those who are outside the church. Isaiah predicted that Jesus would act wisely (Isa. 52:13) and Luke tells us that wisdom marked the childhood and adolescence of Jesus as well as when he became an adult.

Recognise who God is

The first comment to make is that James urged his readers to call upon God. We should notice how he describes God. He is the One who is good to all, which is an indication that James has reflected on God’s activity as the great and kind Creator. In thinking about God in this way, we are reminded of how Jesus described God in the Sermon on the Mount. The Saviour taught his disciples that the Father sent sunshine and rain on all people. In doing this, God is not biased. We could ask, for example, which part of our locality received more daylight today than another? James, we could say, had observed that God gave in general terms to those that did not ask, so it is far more likely that he will give special blessings to those who do ask for them.

James also mentions that God does not delay in giving wisdom. Calvin points out that ‘The meaning, then, is, that God is so inclined and ready to give, that he rejects none, or haughtily puts them off, being not like the niggardly and grasping, who either sparingly, as with a closed hand, give but little, or give only a part of what they were about to give, or long debate with themselves whether to give or not.’ Nor does God object to persistent requests; again Calvin observes that ‘Hence, a mortal man, however open-handed he may be, we are ashamed to weary by asking too often. But James reminds us, that there is nothing like this in God; for he is ready ever to add new blessings to former ones, without any end or limitation.’

Praying in faith

The second detail is that we have to ask in faith. What does it mean to pray in faith? Does James have in mind some form of self-persuasion whereby we convince ourselves that God will answer our prayers? If it means that, then we have a problem because every Christian has offered hundreds of prayers that he knew God was capable of answering, but did not. We would have to say to those people that their earnest, confident prayers were not praying in faith. I think we get some clues as to what praying in faith is in this brief passage on wisdom.

Praying in faith involves the recognition that God is good. In other words, such a person has a correct belief about God. He understands that the One he is addressing is delighted to answer his prayers. Yet since he is the one who can give wisdom, he must possess the wisdom as to whether or not or how he should answer our prayers.

Praying in faith also recognises that God is gracious. If I need to pray for wisdom, it means that there is something wrong with me, and what is wrong with me is the opposite of wisdom, and the Bible describes such an attitude as folly. Folly, in this sense, is another word for sin. If God listens to the prayers of sinners, and he does, it means that he acts graciously towards the undeserving.

Those two details of recognising that God is good and wise, and that God is gracious to sinners, would be applied to all forms of praying, even the ones about which we are not sure. We need something else in order to be able to pray in faith. The third detail about praying in faith is that the item prayed for is guaranteed by God in his Word. In other words, we can pray in faith for the items that God has clearly promised to give us. The obvious deduction we can make here is that we should know the promises of God.

So when we are thinking about praying in faith, we need to bear in mind the specifics and the scope of God’s promises. It is impossible to have a healthy prayer life if we have not made ourselves familiar with them. As far as the scope of the promises are concerned, they are very wide-ranging, covering every area of life. In addition, they are often specific regarding what we can pray for in those situations.

A wise person will realise that if his or her prayer life is to glorify God they will use the guidelines that he has provided. The promises and other forms of instruction that the Bible contains are God’s way of saying, ‘This is how you can glorify me.’ We should not be surprised that a consequence of not doing this is a process of unanswered prayer in our lives. Prayer is not meant to be like a slot machine, hoping that one of the times we will hit the jackpot. Instead we are to pray in faith, asking him about the matters he has revealed as important for us to have, and when we do that, he may decide in his mercy to answer the other prayers of the wise.

The solemn deduction

What is a person like who does not pray in faith for wisdom? James, in his answer, reveals again that he has been reflecting on what he sees in providence, this time concerning what he observed when the wind disturbed the waves of the sea. I suppose he is saying that doubting the promises of God in prayer makes such a person directionless and wandering all over the place, a marked by restlessness. One minute, he is asking God for this, the next minute he is asking God for that, and maybe God has not promised either the this or the that.

God is not going to answer someone who doubts his promises regarding what to pray for. With some petitions, because there is no specific promise connected to them, we have to accept the possibility that he will decline to answer yes because he knows better. After all, his refusal is an expression of his wisdom. So, while we do not understand, we trust him and accept his sovereignty. It is different with matters that he has definitely promised to give us. When we doubt them, we are not taking his promises seriously.