20240118

the faith balance

James 1:5-8 (JDV)

James 1:5 But if any of you needs wisdom, he should ask God — who gives to all generously and without shame —and it will be given to him.
James 1:6 But let him ask in faith without doubting because the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
James 1:7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord,
James 1:8 being double-minded and unstable in all his roads.

the faith balance

What does asking in faith look like? Think of it as the balance between two extremes. One extreme is doubt — which kills confidence before it even begins. James describes the doubter as the surging sea, a dangerous environment for a craft. Faith cannot survive in such a person.

The opposite extreme is presumption. That is what happens when a person prays for wisdom and then takes off in the supposed direction without waiting for God to answer the prayer. In such cases, the answer the presumptuous person finds is often worse than the problem that person had at first.

When we need wisdom, we should approach the LORD as the only means of that wisdom, and then wait for the answer that could only come from him. To fail to ask is to demonstrate doubt. To fail to wait for his solution is to express contempt. Seek the balance of faithful prayer.