Wisdom, Free for the Asking

James 1:5-8
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Consider this: You're faced with a difficult decision, confrontation or challenge, perhaps even something as simple as knowing how to handle our own children, when we come to the end of our rope. How often is our first thought to ask for wisdom from the Lord?

I don't claim to be any guru on child-raising or any other subject, but I know without a doubt that I would not have made a fraction of the good choices that I have if it had not been for the wisdom that the Lord imparted, in response to such prayers.

I cannot tell you when I learned this passage, but it must have been one of the first passages to which the Lord brought me upon giving my heart to him. I was a young man of 18 years who had received little guidance in my lifetime. I needed a father figure more desperately than I needed food or drink, and I asked God to be a father to me. Without hesitation, he took me to the above passage, and I can honestly say that He has honored it every time that I have evoked its promise.

In fact, one of the things that I love about verse 5 is that it is followed by verses 6-8. James not only assures us that God will impart the wisdom we ask of Him, without rebuking us for what we should already know, but he tells us that it is such a divine certainty that we must ask it with complete confidence or expect nothing at all. If we ask wisdom, let us have boldness to know with absolute certainty that God will provide the guidance we have need of, even to the point of giving us deep insight into matters that we know nothing about.

To doubt either that He is the source and repository of all wisdom, including what to do in our specific circumstance, or that He is faithful to answer us when we ask of Him, is to be like a wave of sea, unstable in all our ways.

God knows us and He knows our circumstances, better than anyone else in all the world. James wants the people of God to understand who we place our confidence in, that He is not like men who cannot be depended on. It is the character of God to guide and reveal.

How much more is this true in regard to His children?