Faith can simply be defined as trusting that God will fulfill His promises.  God makes promises on the basis of His perfect wisdom.  James encourages us to ask God for wisdom when we find ourselves lacking.  James 1:5-7 says,

“⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. ⁶ But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. ⁷ For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; ⁸ he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”

Wisdom grows out of three factors: knowledge, perspective, and experience. 

We lack wisdom because we lack unlimited knowledge, perfect perspective, and eternal experience.   God does not lack these things.
(For more on wisdom, click here)

One of the great promises of James 1:5 is that God wants to generously pour out His wisdom into our lives.  The eternal, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-wise God of the universe has given us an open invitation to share His wisdom.  All we have to do is ask for it.

He never promises that following His wisdom will be easy nor does He promise to fix our circumstances in order to make our lives more comfortable. Instead, God invites us to draw near to Him.  He wants to share His perspective on our trials.  He wants to walk with us through the difficulties so that we might know Him better and trust Him more. 

In the midst of hard times, He wants us to learn that no amount of money makes us right with God and no amount of poverty automatically makes us right with God.  God’s resources are both different and better than ours.  Look at verse 9-11,

“⁹ Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, ¹⁰ and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. ¹¹ For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.”

Trials have an incredible leveling effect.  They reveal that everyone has the same fundamental spiritual needs:

• Many of James’ readers were poor.  They needed encouragement to long for more of God rather than to long for a larger paycheck. 
• On the flip side, the rich people needed to understand that money doesn’t buy them favor with God and a man who is hugely successful in the business world may find himself spiritually bankrupt when it matters most.

One day everything we have will be gone.  Whether we had a lot or a little, we will have nothing left as we stand before the Lord.  Will you be relying on your wealth or on a few good deeds at that moment?  OR, will you be relying on the finished work of Jesus on the cross?  Do you have a faith that can survive a test?

Our salvation and the eternal reward we inherit are the most important issues of life! (For more on God’s holiness and our justification, click here.)

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