The Word This Week

James 1:5...

Wisdom’ is the application of God’s Word in a particular situation in life.

Another way of putting it is ‘wisdom’ comes from God, and it His will for every situation. Wisdom is not the same as knowledge. Sometimes, many times, and perhaps at all times, man’s knowledge impedes Godly wisdom from being applied in situations where God’s wisdom is needed.  (That would of course be EVERY situation in the life of a child of God.)

Since Godly wisdom is not natural but supernatural, the question is: How can it be had? This is one of the most important questions to be asked and answered in the life of every believer.

Well, James, the half-brother of Jesus provides the answer. It is probably far simpler than most might think or believe. Sometimes God’s wisdom is plainly apparent for the believer because a life situation arises which is directly covered in God’s Word, and that distinct portion of God’s Word is known and understood by the believer and immediately applied and appreciated. Other times however, a life situation arises which is not directly covered by God’s Word. There are innumerable such life situations, and God’s wisdom is no less important in those situations than it is in the situations God’s Word speaks directly to.

Wonderfully, for the believer, knowing God’s wisdom is as simple as asking God for it.

We know that every good and perfect gift comes from God. We know God desires us to have all good and Godly things and no bad things for our lives. As our loving benevolent Father in heaven, He desires for His children only good things – in the same way a good and Godly father on earth desires only good things for his children.

Therefore, when we desire God’s wisdom for any life situation, we can have it and will have it when we ask God for it. It will be given by God freely, and without reproach. This is really important to us because sometimes – and perhaps quite often - we launch out into life employing only the knowledge we possess, forgetting for the moment we could have asked God first before springing into action – which many times has disastrous results.

Have you ever found yourself in the midst of a disaster of your own making and thought to yourself, “There’s no way I can ask God about this now, because He will be angry with me for making such a mess of this?” Surely you have. But James says here, God will freely give us His wisdom “without reproach” to any of us who lack it. This can be BEFORE we make a decision, but incredibly importantly – it can also be after we have made a mess of things by choosing our own way.

Pastor Bill