The generous provision of wisdom is God’s desire, given without hesitation to those who make requests. But satisfying a contingency in that provision, God examines the heart looking for motives consistent with the growing faith James describes as enduring to the perfect and complete result, lacking in nothing. A heart failing to exercise this faith due to a conflation with doubt suggests an underlying uncertainty or improper motive concerning the wisdom requested. This “doubleminded” attitude implies an aspiration to please two masters – an allegiance to God is challenged by the desire to follow a self-determined direction. The issue isn’t a question of God’s faithfulness to the provision; rather, there exists a division of loyalty in the heart where confidence and trust are found in another source. This motive does not escape God’s attention. Doubt reflects a condition in which there is a failure to remain loyal to God who occupies the throne of the believer’s life. Therefore, their walk with God is plagued by instability, tossed about like a ship struggling for direction in a raging sea at one moment riding the crests of expressed faith only to be followed by a fall to the troughs of dependence on themselves. The trials of various kinds which come their way will reveal this illegitimacy. They are not single-minded in loyalty to Christ and therefore are left to navigate life’s circumstances in their own wisdom. With such motives of the heart, this unstable person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
But for the follower of Christ truly desiring the influx of wisdom from God that they might navigate the trials of life to God’s glory and their gain, their soul cries out with the words of King David
“I seek you with all my heart, do not let me stray from Your commands. I have hidden Your work in my heart that I might not sin against You.”
Through the sanctification process, they continually are putting to death the deeds of the flesh which includes denying “Self” thereby developing a robust loyalty for God and God alone. The Father is long suffering, extending grace through the refining process, that they might learn more each day what it means to trust in Him – the One who has the wisdom they need. The providential trials refine their faith, the wisdom of God fills them with a Christ-like attitude, and their hearts, with ever purer loyalty to the only true God, sing with Joy.
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
James 1:5-8
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