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Asking the Generous Father: Wisdom for Trials (James 1:5–8) · Reformed Thinking

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Brief introduction for Reformed thinking.
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Welcome to the deep dive. Our mission here is always the
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same. We take the sources you send our
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way, articles, sermon notes, research, and we try to distill
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the most essential pieces of understanding.
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And today we're opening up a conversation that is just so
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significant for anyone who's ever felt, you know, overwhelmed
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or even spiritually stuck when the life gets really hard.
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This analysis is focused squarely on the Epistle of
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James, chapter 1, verses 5 through 8.
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We really want this dip dive to be a shortcut to clarity for
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you. If you're in a trial right now,
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or maybe just preparing your heart for what life brings.
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We're looking at two key things. First, how trials work in the
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life of a Christian to show a specific kind of weakness.
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And 2nd, the very specific gracious resource God provides
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right at the moment when suffering has exposed that
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weakness. This isn't just theory, it's a
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manual for living under pressure.
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And our goal is to get a handle on what wisdom actually is,
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biblically speaking, where we're commanded to go looking for it.
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And while the character of the giver who supplies it, he gives
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it freely without complaint. This passage, you know, it
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guards the believer against two huge spiritual dangers. 1 is a
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kind of spiritual pride, and the other is that frantic, wavering
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instability. We're looking for steadiness.
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OK so let's start where James starts.
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He makes this assumption and our sources all confirm it's just a
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non negotiable part of the Christian life.
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He doesn't say if you face trials, he says when you meet
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trials of various kinds. So right from the get go, we're
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told that these hard times, they aren't some kind of detour from
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the Christian life. They're an expected, even
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necessary part of it. It's part of the package deal,
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isn't it? It absolutely is.
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And realizing that immediately changes our perspective.
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You know, you move from asking why is this happening to me to
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what is this showing in me? And that brings us to what our
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sources called the diagnostic function of trials.
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A trial doesn't just, you know, bruise your emotions and make
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you feel sad. These moments of pressure are
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like a spiritual stress test. They uncover the well, the
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poverty that was already in the heart.
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I think that's such a key distinction.
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When life is comfortable, your health is good, finances are OK,
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people seem to like you, It is so easy to mistake that comfort
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for real spiritual maturity. But pressure?
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It just changes the whole equation.
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It does. Think of it like a check engine
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light in your car. The light itself isn't the
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problem, the light is the tool that's pointing to a problem
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that already exists in the engine.
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When the ground starts to shake under your feet, when all the
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predictability is gone, that's when the testing reveals what
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secretly governs us. The trial doesn't create the
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weakness, it just shines a spotlight on it.
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It shows us how fragile our self-control really is, or how
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fast we pivot to fear instead of faith.
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And the list of things that come to the surface in that heat is
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pretty sobering. The material we looked at
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mentions things like raw panic, a constant complaining, this
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tendency toward doing what's easiest instead of what's right.
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Moral expediency or bargaining with God.
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You know, Lord, if you fix this, then I'll do that.
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It's this simmering resentment, this this deep grasping for
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control, which is the exact opposite of trust, right?
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Affliction is a stripping away process.
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It takes away the things we lean on.
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Our Ros. Yeah, your health, the approval
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of others, a predictable income. When those external supports get
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kicked out from under you, the true state of your internal
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reliance on God is laid bare. It forces you to ask some tough
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questions, doesn't it? Like how quickly did I start
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running anxious calculations in my head?
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How fast did I jump to defending myself or comparing my situation
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to someone who seems to have it easier?
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And yet James immediately points us past the pain and toward
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God's purpose. And it all.
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The Lord uses this testing, this exposure, to reduce what James
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calls steadfastness. Now steadfast.
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And in simple terms, it means being firmly fixed, unmoving.
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It's spiritual durability. The goal, James says, is a
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mature and complete Christian life.
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But that kind of maturity requires more than just
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willpower. It needs a specific spiritual
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resource that we all lack when we need it most.
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And that brings us right to the heart of it, to the crisis of
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deficiency in James one, verse 5.
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If any of you lacks wisdom, it's such a striking statement,
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'cause he's not just guessing, he's speaking with this intense
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realism, knowing that this lack, this deficiency is universal
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when we're under pressure. That phrase is so vital.
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James isn't pointing a finger and accusing his readers.
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He's describing the common human experience, especially for a
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believer who is under strain. The conditional if their
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functions more like since some of you do or even let's be
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honest, since all of you will at some point.
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The phrase any of you makes it universal.
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This isn't just for new believers.
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Trials expose the limits of every season St.
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And that word for LAX? It means falling short, coming
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up empty. It's that feeling of realizing
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you just don't have the spiritual tools for this moment.
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You might have the doctrine in your head, but you don't have
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the skill to apply it when your emotions are running hot.
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That's it. Under a trial, our moral
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instincts, the things that feel right or practical, can be
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profoundly unreliable. We might know intellectually
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that God works all things for good, but when the phone rings
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with bad news, the first instinct is often panic, not
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patient trust. That gap between our theological
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knowledge and our practical response is the lack of wisdom.
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And This is why wisdom is the crucial missing piece.
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Biblical endurance. It's not just stoic resignation,
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you know, gritting your teeth and waiting for the pain to
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pass. And it's not just numbing
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yourself with distractions either, No.
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It's an active, persevering trust, and that trust gets
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expressed through real, concrete, righteous choices.
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That's what steadfastness is. Lots of people can suffer
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hardship, but it's another thing entirely to suffer faithfully,
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without sinning, without lashing out, and without compromising
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your walk with Christ. So wisdom is the link.
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It's what connects the raw experience of the trial to the
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goal of our sanctification. Without it, the trial is just.
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It's just pain and it often leads to bitterness or cynicism.
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But with wisdom, that same pressure can be used to produce
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Christ like character. So before we go any further, we
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have to be really clear about what we're asking for when we
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say wisdom. We have to get past the world's
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definitions right away. This isn't just about being
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smart or clever or being able to solve a hard problem.
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Yeah, we have to reject the idea that biblical wisdom is just,
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you know, prudence or being street smart.
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That's the world's definition. It's a technique for getting a
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personal advantage. True biblical wisdom doesn't
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start with intellectual brilliance.
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It starts with submission. 7 isn't so clear on this.
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The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
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It starts with a posture of reverend humility before God's
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authority. OK, so if it starts with
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submission, what does it look like in practice?
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The sources we read defined it so well as the skill of godly
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living. That phrase is packed with
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meaning. What does that skill actually
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look like day-to-day? It's the ability to see reality,
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especially painful reality, through God's definition of it,
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through His Word, and then to act on that even when it feels
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completely counterintuitive. It's about taking revealed truth
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doctrine and translating it into obedient patterns, especially
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when you're under spiritual pressure.
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It's not just knowing the right answer, it's doing the right
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thing when the cost is high. And James gives us this
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incredible practical description of it later in chapter 3.
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He says the wisdom from above is pure, then peaceable, gentle,
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open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and
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sincere. That shows us that wisdom isn't
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some secret mystical code, it's a moral character.
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Profile. That's a great way to put it.
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The goal isn't finding the easiest path around the trial.
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The goal is becoming the kind of person who responds to trouble
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in a Christ like way. This skill, it governs our
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speech, it restrains our desires.
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It clarifies our decisions. Let's try to use some concrete
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examples, like the sources suggest, to make this real.
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Trials put us at these moral crossroads where our natural
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fallen impulses are just not reliable.
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OK. Let's take the impulse to
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retaliate when someone wrongs you, a family member, a Co
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worker, the natural heart immediately wants revenge or
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justice on its own terms. Wisdom is what you need to tell
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the difference between righteous grief over the wrong and sinful
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vengeance. It's following the guidance in
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Romans 12 to leave vengeance to God.
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The wise person says I'm hurting, but I will not use my
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pain as an excuse to sin against this person.
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Or think about anxiety. Anxiety hits almost everyone
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during a big trial. Financial uncertainty, a health
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scare. The natural impulse is to grab
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for control, to run 1000 worst case scenarios in your mind, to
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manipulate things to try and feel safe again.
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Wisdom is what's needed to turn that fear into prayerful
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dependence, resisting that urge to control everything, which
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Philippians 4 tells us to do. You know, the crisis is that
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what we call common sense, what the world might call pragmatism,
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can actually just be unbelief. Wearing a practical mask, for
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instance, common sense might tell you to bend the truth to
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save your job, But wisdom which is pure and sincere says no, I'm
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going to rely on God's Providence, not my own
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compromise. A person who understands
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justification by faith but responds to their own suffering
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with chronic resentment lacks wisdom.
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They've disconnected their head knowledge from their heart's
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response. And the hope in all of this is
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actually huge. Confessing I lack wisdom is not
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a denial of God's grace. It's an honest, humble
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confession of our need are creaturely limits.
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And since the crisis is internal, this lack of skill in
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godly living, God provides an internal remedy.
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He provides wisdom that enables that purity, that peaceable
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conduct, that faithful endurance.
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The trial shows the need, and James points us to the God who
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supplies that need. So once James has laid out the
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reality of this deficiency, he gives the remedy.
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And it's surprisingly direct and, well, humbling.
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Let him ask God. This isn't a gentle suggestion,
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it's an imperative. It's an authoritative summons to
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pray. And that command immediately
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confronts the proud reflex of the fallen heart.
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Our first instinct is always to strategize, to try harder to fix
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it ourselves before we ever confess A radical need we can't
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meet. The sources make it so clear.
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The very first act of wisdom is admitting you don't have it and
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turning to the source. That's spiritual sanity, not
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weakness. Forces the proud heart into a
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posture of dependence, doesn't it?
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We aren't treating prayer like some emotional technique to feel
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better. James treats it as a divinely
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appointed way to receive a specific and necessary gift.
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And we have to be really clear about what we're asking for.
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We're not primarily asking for a secret road map of the future or
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some mystical sign telling us what to do next.
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The request is for moral and spiritual discernment.
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We're asking for help to endure this trial without sinning, to
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choose the path of obedience, and to see our hardship through
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the lens of God's promises, not through the distorting lens of
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fear or self pity. So the request has to be shaped
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by Scripture. When we pray for wisdom, we're
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not asking for something that goes against God's revealed
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Word. We're asking for the Holy Spirit
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to illuminate and apply what's already been revealed to our
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specific situation. We're crying out like the
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psalmist. Make me understand the way of
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your precepts. And this often means God gives
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us wisdom through ordinary means to the answer might not be an
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audible voice. It might be a clarity you find
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while reading scripture or through the careful, humble
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counsel you get from a mature Christian in your church.
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This also requires us to purify our motives.
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The posture is 1 of petition, not entitlement or negotiation.
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In the middle of suffering, it's so tempting to try and hold God
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hostage. Lord, I'll obey you if you first
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change this circumstance. Right.
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But James calls for a request that's anchored in obedience.
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Lord, give me the wisdom and the skill to obey you right here,
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right now, in this painful, dark place.
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That's the Spirit of Christ's prayer in Gethsemane.
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Not my will, but yours. Be done.
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And from a Reformed perspective, this view of prayer adds a
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really significant layer of security for us.
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It really does. It anchors prayer within the
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sovereignty of God. We believe God ordains not only
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the ends that we will become mature and steadfast, but also
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the means to get there, which includes us asking Him for the
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wisdom we need. Prayer isn't an interruption of
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God's sovereign plan, it's a God appointed instrument within it.
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It's designed specifically to produce dependence, humility and
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gratitude in US instead of self-reliance.
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When you ask, you're actually stepping into the path God has
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already made for your growth. Having established the command
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to ask, the focus shifts so beautifully to the identity of
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the giver, and this is the true ground of our confidence.
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God is the one who gives generously to all without
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reproach. This just directly counters that
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common fear we have that God is tired of our knees or that our
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past failures disqualify us from asking again.
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This is the heart of the passage.
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We're dealing with a God whose very disposition is to give
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presently, consistently. He's not some Moody Dee Dee that
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we have to talk into being kind. His generosity is stable.
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It's native to his divine character.
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We don't come to him as beggars who are unsure if will be
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received. We come as adopted children to a
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father who delights to supply what he has commanded us to
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request. Let's unpack that word
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generously or liberally. It suggests an open hand,
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doesn't it? It means God gives without a
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grudging reluctance, without calculating the cost to Himself,
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without rationing his help. Yeah, and contrast that with
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human generosity. The world almost always gives
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with strings attached, or to keep score, or to get something
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in return. Praise, loyalty, a future favor.
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God gives sincerely, truly, for his children's eternal good.
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And let's be clear that good is wisdom that leads to obedience,
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not just relief that leads to a sinful kind of ease.
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God gives what we need to be holy, not always what we want to
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be comfortable. And the invitation is so wide
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open to all. There's no class rank, no
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spiritual pedigree, no minimum level of maturity required.
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The promise is for any believer who's been humbled enough by
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their circumstances to admit I am out of my depth here.
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I lack the skill for this. The anxious student, the person
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with a chronic illness, the grieving parent.
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God invites this repeated simple dependence from all of them.
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And the tenderness of. That phrase without reproach is
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just so comforting. James knows that shame is one of
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the biggest things that silences our prayers.
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Shame whispers. You shouldn't have to ask again.
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You should be stronger by now. But the sources make it clear
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that God does not scold or humiliate his children for their
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weakness when they ask for help. He doesn't throw their past
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failures in their face as some kind of precondition for getting
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mercy. Today.
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He corrects us as a Father. Sure, He disciplines us for our
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good, but when we come seeking wisdom, He is not an accuser.
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This is the logic that's secured by the gospel.
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If God gave his most costly gift, his Son, then a believer
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has every solid reason to expect fatherly generosity.
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In the smaller request for moral wisdom, our confidence is
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anchored entirely in God's unchanging covenant keeping
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character. And the promise is so firm.
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And it will be. Given him James.
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Uses the language of certainty, not possibility.
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The outcome rests completely on the giver's reliability, not on
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the intensity of our feelings or how good our spiritual
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performance was that day. This is an incredible
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commitment. The God of the universe commits
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himself to supplying wisdom when it's requested faithfully.
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But we have to define the boundary of this promise really
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carefully. Otherwise we can fall into this
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trap of thinking it's a genie in a bottle promise.
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This is not a guarantee that God will give us our preferred
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circumstance, or that He'll quickly remove the trial, or
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even that He'll instantly give us a perfect five step plan.
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Right. The gift is wisdom that's suited
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to the purpose. James was already stated back in
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verses 2 through 4, which is producing steadfastness and
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maturity. So God often answers this prayer
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not by changing the external situation.
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The financial trouble might stay, the illness might linger,
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but by changing the internal response, He strengthens our
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patients, He restrains our tongue, He clarifies a specific
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duty, or He anchors our heart in a specific truth from His Word.
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So that prepares us to redefine what an answered prayer looks
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like in the middle of affliction.
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It often looks like moral clarity and a spirit produced
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stability that lets you glorify God in the trial, even if the
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trial goes on for a long time. And this clarity guards US
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against a few common misuses. First, it guards against the
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idea of private revelation. This promise isn't for some
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inner voice or a dream or a mystical sign that says go
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laughter, quit your job now. Wisdom is recognized by its
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moral fruit, purity, peaceableness, sincerity, not by
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extraordinary untestable experiences.
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God grants wisdom through His established means, scripture,
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prayer, counsel, and the formation of a Christ like
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character. And second, it clearly rejects
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any kind of prosperity pragmatism.
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The promise is ask and you'll be supplied with the skill to
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persevere faithfully. Not ask and you'll escape the
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pain. The Prosperity View treats
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wisdom as a technique to find the path of least resistance.
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James calls us to count trials as joy and persevere through
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them. And 3rd this promise doesn't.
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Excuse passivity. When you ask for wisdom, you're
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seeking help to take responsibility righteously.
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You're seeking divine aid to make costly choices.
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Choosing integrity when it's tempting to lie.
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Choosing restrain speech when you want to lash out.
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Choosing a humble apology when your pride is screaming for self
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justification. Sometimes the wisdom comes as
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immediate clarity, other times it's progressive.
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But most frequently it's a changed art, one that's less
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self protective and more teachable.
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The promise ensures that if God intends for us to mature, he
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will supply the means to get there.
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So James prevents verse 5, that wonderful promise of God's
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generosity, from becoming some kind of sentimental slogan by
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immediately adding an essential qualifier.
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It's in verse 6. But let him ask in faith, with
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no doubting. This shows us that the certainty
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of the answer requires the proper, sincere manner of the
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request. This is so critical.
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Faith here is defined as a complete, trustful reliance on
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God's character as the generous giver and an acceptance of His
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sovereign timing and His sovereign answer, whatever that
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might be. The doubting that James condemns
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isn't just emotional shaking or momentary sorrow.
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Those are natural human responses to pain.
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The doubting he's talking about is divided allegiance.
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Divided allegiance that suggests you're praying while at the same
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time holding God in suspicion or treating His revealed word and
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His moral laws as optional when they get inconvenient, the
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doubting person in their heart is praying.
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God, prove yourself to me and answer on my terms for my
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convenience. And James gives us that
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incredibly vivid, visceral image of the doubter.
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He says he's like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by
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the wind. Think about a wave for a second.
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A wave doesn't decide its own direction.
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External forces, the wind, the pie, They command it.
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The doubter is spiritually unstable in their orientation.
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They're mastered by their shifting moods, by changing
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circumstances, by competing desires.
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They never find rest because they have never fully
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surrendered their will to God's governance.
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So they're driven one way by hope and then another way by
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despair. They might commit to a righteous
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course of action one day, and then the next day when the trial
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gets harder, they pivot completely to a course of self
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protection or compromise. This lack of rest comes from not
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being fully anchored in the character of the giver.
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The doubting person might run to God seeking relief, but then
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when obedience seems costly or goes on for too long, they pivot
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and call that obedience unwise. When sin seems convenient,
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they'll rationalize it as necessary.
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The wave analogy perfectly captures the effect of double
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mindedness on a person's entire life.
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Constant motion, but zero progress towards spiritual
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maturity. And This is why James puts the
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warning right after the promise. God's promise is certain, but
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the doubters heart isn't steady enough to receive that gift for
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the purpose of holiness. And the warning gets even more
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intense in verses 7 and 8. The doubter is a double minded
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man, unstable in all his ways. And you mentioned the Greek
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there literally means 2 sold. James delivers this bracing
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warning that man must not suppose he will receive anything
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from the Lord. That's a very stark condemnation
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of trying to live with two masters, which Christ himself
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warned US against. The two soled man wants God's
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gifts, peace, comfort, clarity, relief, but he doesn't want
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God's governance. He wants divine assistance
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without submitting to divine authority.
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He wants relief without repentance and clarity without a
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willingness to obey the difficult duty that the clarity
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reveals. In a practical sense, the two
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soled man is trying to stream God's channel and the world's
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channel at the same time. He's holding onto 2 sets of
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loyalties, 2 ethical systems, and two competing anxieties.
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And James says this instability is comprehensive.
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It affects all his ways, his decisions, his speech, his
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relationships, his ethics, even his finances.
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If you're double minded, the wisdom God gives would just be
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misused as ammunition for compromise.
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Gus will not give wisdom to a person whose real goal is to
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preserve their own comfort over their sanctification.
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So the call here is really a call to repentance and to
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wholeness of heart. The solution isn't to try and
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hypnotize yourself into a feeling of certainty.
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It's to return to the Lord with an undivided heart.
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Asking for wisdom requires A sincere, honest willingness to
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obey whatever duty God reveals, whether that duty is patient
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waiting, a humble apology, or costly integrity.
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And this is where Reformed thinking can provide real
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comfort and direction. The believer approaches God not
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as a stranger trying to earn a hearing, but as someone who's
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been reconciled through Christ. Because God gives without
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reproach, we can ask boldly. But because God opposes double
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mindedness, we must ask honestly, confessing where we're
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hedging our bets or where we're seeking God's blessing on a plan
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that we refuse to place entirely under His Word.
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The sincerity of the asking heart determines the reception
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of the wisdom. 5 for 8 is one of the most quoted passages on
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prayer, but it's also often really distorted in modern
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application. To make sure we're clear, we
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need to address 3 common misreadings that violate what
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James clearly intended. The first pitfall is misusing
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this for mystical guidance. This is an approach that treats
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wisdom as a private message, an inner voice, a strong feeling, a
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dream, a sign in your circumstances that kind of
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bypasses the need for the revealed word.
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It quietly shifts the center of gravity away from the objective
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truth of Scripture and towards subjective impressions.
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And when wisdom is treated like private revelation, the result
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is the very instability that James condemns.
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People become anxious and superstitious, constantly
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scanning their circumstances for omens or intense feelings rather
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than submitting to what Scripture already says and
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pursuing holiness. They become tossed about, not by
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the trial, but by their own internal feelings and external
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coincidences. James is seeking obedience to
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what God has made plain. The anxiety this creates is
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immense. If you believe wisdom is some
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unique personal download, every choice becomes filled with
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paranoia. Did I miss the sign?
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Did I pray hard enough to get the secret word?
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This leads to spiritual fatigue and confusion, not the peaceable
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clarity of true wisdom. True wisdom is recognized by its
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observable moral fruit, not by the intensity of the feeling you
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had when you made the decision. The second major distortion is
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what we could call prosperity pragmatism.
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This sees wisdom as just a technique to find the path of
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least pain and greatest worldly success.
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The thinking is, if I ask correctly, I will get the
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outcome I want, or at least a quick solution to escape the
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trial. This flatly contradicts James
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1.2 to 4, which causes to find joy in the testing and to let
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steadfastness have its effect. The prosperity instinct treats
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prayer like a lever to control God's Providence or like a
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spiritual insurance policy. The implied logic is distorted
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from ask for wisdom. So you can endure the trial
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without sin and become mature through it to ask for wisdom,
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and you'll escape the trial and preserve your comfort.
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Yeah, but whatever works mentality that's inherent in
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pragmatism often seeks divine permission for expedient
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choices, like shading the truth in a business deal, or
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justifying bitterness as necessary boundary setting, or
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using harsh words to win an argument.
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But James's wisdom is pure and peaceable.
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It never blesses sin for the sake of relief or temporary
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success. The third common misreading is
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therapeutic self help. This reduces the prayer for
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wisdom to a spiritual coping technique that's aimed primarily
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at emotional regulation. The goal becomes just to feel
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calmer or to reduce anxiety. It turns God into a celestial
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therapist. And while drawing near to God
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certainly brings comfort, James is after something much deeper
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than just inner tranquility. The goal of this process isn't I
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feel better, but rather I am being made steadfast, sincere,
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peaceable and pure under pressure.
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When prayer is reduced only to therapy, the key elements of
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repentance and submission become optional.
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Obedience gets replaced by the pursuit of inner peace, which
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can be secured by lots of non spiritual means.
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James is exposing the heart that wants God's comfort and help
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while keeping control over the direction of their life.
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A soul that wants to be soothed without being sanctified.
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Truism is a moral theological reality, not just a
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neurobiological coping mechanism.
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This helps us bring the whole passage together, this entire
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search for wisdom. It doesn't end with a better
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technique for surviving hardship or a clearer feeling about the
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future. It ends with a better Savior.
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Christ himself is declared to be the wisdom of God for us, as we
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read in First Corinthians. The gospel secures our
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confidence because it defines our relationship with God.
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Because God gave his Son, we have access to the throne of
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grace to ask for wisdom without any fear of rejection or
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reproach. We come as adopted, reconciled
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children, not as hired servants trying to earn assistance.
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And what does God's generously given wisdom produce?
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It produces Christ like endurance and suffering.
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It's a steadfastness that refuses to give in to
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bitterness, a purity that resists sinful forms of relief,
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a gentleness that doesn't retaliate, and a peace that
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doesn't panic because it trusts the outcome to a sovereign and
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discourse Father. The world in times of trial, it
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urges self protection at any cost.
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Get out, save yourself, preserve your interests.
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Christ, however, calls us to take up our cross and follow him
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even through the valley of affliction.
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The world says be shrewd. Christ says lose your life for
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my sake. In the Gospels, the wisdom James
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commands is the wisdom that has the skill and the spiritual
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power to obey that voice. It praise Father, give me
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wisdom, and then immediately rises to do the next righteous
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thing, even when that path is costly.
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Because Christ secured our welcome, we can ask boldly.
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Because Christ is our pattern, we can endure faithfully.
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And because Christ is our wisdom, the trial that exposes
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our great need becomes the very instrument God uses to mature us
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and deepen our trust in Him. So to quickly review the most
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important takeaways from this analysis.
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First, trials are expected and they work to expose our lack of
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moral and spiritual wisdom. Second, God commands us as our
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first step to ask him for it through prayer.
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Third, he gives generously and without reproach a promise
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angered entirely by the cross and his character.
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And 4th, we must ask in faith, actively pursuing a single
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minded heart that is willing to submit to God's governance.
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And here's a final provocative thought for you to consider this
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week, building on this deep dive.
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If the Lord often answers the prayer for wisdom by changing
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our internal response, strengthening our patients,
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clarifying our immediate duty, making us more peaceable rather
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than by changing our external situation, what small, concrete
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obedience in your speech, in your actions, or in your
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humility will you ask God for the wisdom to pursue today?
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Thank you for sharing your sources with us and letting us
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take this deep dive.