James 1:5-11 - When Life is Hard Ask for Wisdom (Session 3)

 James 1:5-11 Bible study on wisdom in trials, asking God for wisdom, faith without doubting, double-mindedness, rich and poor in Christ, and enduring suffering with biblical wisdom. 

James 1:5–11 teaches how to seek wisdom in trials, ask God in faith without doubting, avoid double-mindedness, and view both poverty and riches through a biblical lens.

This verse-by-verse Bible study explains that James is speaking about the wisdom needed to endure trials and painful circumstances, not a blanket promise of health, wealth, or anything a person desires. God gives wisdom generously to those who ask in faith, trusting His purpose in suffering.

This passage also warns that the doubting person is unstable, like the surf of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. James uses this picture to describe spiritual wavering and the danger of being double-minded. The study also explores James’s contrast between the poor believer, who can glory in a high position in Christ, and the rich man, whose earthly wealth will fade like grass under the scorching sun.

Topics covered:

•  Wisdom in trials 
•  Asking God for wisdom 
•  Faith without doubting 
•  Double-mindedness 
•  Rich and poor in James 
•  Spiritual stability in suffering 
•  Temporary wealth vs. eternal riches 

Reasoning Through the Bible offers verse-by-verse Bible teaching, biblical doctrine, and practical Christian living grounded in Scripture.

Transcript

Steve 0:45

Music.

Glenn 0:52

Wisdom is one of the greatest attributes that anyone could ever pursue. To be wise is to have a life that goes easier, that avoids issues and generally, is a much better life. So today we're going to learn about wisdom and how to get wisdom, and wisdom about some of the problems that we have in life. Hi, my name is Glenn and this is Steve, and we are reasoning through the Bible. Today we're in the book of James and James has opened up talking about trials. And Steve, today he's going to talk about the wisdom that comes in trials.

Steve 1:29

Probably the most famous story about wisdom is back when Solomon became king of Israel, and he petitioned him, and God said well, whatever it is you ask, I will grant it to you. Solomon asked for wisdom. That has always been looked at as something that he didn't ask for riches or anything else. He asked for wisdom, and, of course, from his wisdom, though, he became one of the greater kings of Israel. So wisdom is also spoken of in the Old Testament, so it's not a new topic for James to bring it up here.

Glenn 2:00

You have your copy of the Word of God open to the New Testament book of James. We're in chapter one and if you were with us last time, we learned that James opens up his book talking about trials. He's speaking to Jewish people that believe in Jesus Christ and they had been scattered abroad. So he's writing this letter going out to them, telling them to be assured that there's a reason and a purpose for the trials that they're going through. Today we're going to pick up in James one, verse five, and learn about what he says about these trials.

Steve 2:35

So, steve, if you could start reading at James one and read verses five through eight, 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.

Glenn 3:04

So verse five there says but if any of you lacks wisdom, the little word. But there is not in the Bible, the little word. But there is not in all of the English translations, but it's an important word, it's a connecting word. It's there in the original Greek. What he's connecting is the previous concept that he just taught with this issue, that he's saying now with the wisdom.

Steve 3:25

Steve, what did James just talk about in the previous verses he's talking about endurance and having endurance, and that it has a perfect result. Right, exactly?

Glenn 3:36

He's talking about trials and enduring through trials. If you remember from last time, there's a series of connecting words that are used twice, each of them used twice in a chain. He's connecting thoughts here and we're right in the middle of that. So here in verse five, when he says but if any of you lacks wisdom, it's in the idea of wisdom, in enduring through these trials. That's the concept of wisdom. He's not saying it, wisdom in general, it's wisdom in the sense of understanding that God has a purpose in these trials. So when it says lacks wisdom, what kind of wisdom would it have? Well, it's the wisdom of enduring through trials. What does he tell us to do, steve, when he says if we do indeed lack this wisdom, he says that we should go to God and ask for it.

Steve 4:28

but we need to ask in such a way that we expect it, that we shouldn't be double-minded about it.

Glenn 4:35

Also, if we look at verse five, he gives us a clue as to when he says it flat out how he would answer this prayer. So in verse five, steve, according to this verse, how much does God give He'll?

Steve 4:46

give him all the wisdom that he asks for, without any type of qualification or anything. If the person is lacking wisdom and he asks the Lord, not in a doubtful way, says right there that the Lord will give it to him.

Glenn 5:00

The word I see here in this text is generous. He gives generously. He gives above and beyond what we might ask or think. This raises another question Is he guaranteeing that God will give us anything we ask for, such as health and wealth? It says right there ask without doubting and he gives generously. What is he guaranteeing?

Steve 5:22

to give? Yeah, that's a good question, because I think people quote verse six without taking the context of verse five and they say that we'll see. It says right there that we should ask for anything without being double minded, and that's not what this is talking about. It's talking about wisdom. That's the subject that James is talking about. So he's saying that if you lack wisdom, ask the Lord for wisdom, without doubt. That's the subject that he's talking about here.

Glenn 5:53

He's a member. Every verse is in a context and the context is in this context of enduring through trials. And he had just said God's going to give you some things in this trial. If we lack the wisdom of understanding that God is using this trial for a purpose, if we lack that wisdom, then we ask for God and we do it without doubting he's going to assure us and he's going to give generously these spiritual attributes, spiritual abilities that come through these trials. That's the wisdom that he's talking about. He's not even really talking about wisdom in general, like a wisdom of Solomon. He's talking about wisdom in the specific sense of why is this trial so painful and why am I having to go through these things? That's the wisdom. If we lack the wisdom of his word, lack the wisdom of understanding what God is telling us and what has God has doing in our lives, if I lack that wisdom, then all I have to do is ask. He's going to give, and give generously. He's going to let us know these things.

Glenn 6:59

He has no sense of the word here guaranteeing health or guaranteeing that we're going to be fabulously wealthy. No, I mean Peter in the book of Acts when he went up to the beggar in the temple said silver and gold have I none. He's not guaranteeing us that we're all going to be healthy and wealthy every time. Now don't get me wrong. I think God does that. God does heal, god does good things to us. If a general rule, if you follow biblical principles you're going to have more money than if you don't follow biblical principles. He's just not telling us here to go and declare things into existence through my statements. That is not what he's saying here. He's saying if you're undergoing this trial, ask God why, and he'll generously give you the wisdom in knowing why.

Glenn 7:46

This is In verse six, as you pointed out, steve. It says he must ask in faith without any doubting. The word for doubt here in the old King James is used as the word wavering without any wavering, and this is a place where I think the old King James actually got it in a better translation. It's the original Greek word. Here is moving between two things. The sense of the definition of the word in the Greek is to look at two different things or more and make an intelligent discernment between them, trying to make a decision this way one day and that way and next trying to waver between them or trying to decide between them. What he's saying here in verse six is that he must ask in faith without jumping back and forth.

Glenn 8:35

So the picture here, steve, is that, okay, I've been presented with this circumstance. It's not a sin circumstance on my side, if that is, it's really clear what I'm supposed to do. But I've got this painful circumstance and I'm trying to decide what to do. Well, I've asked God and I've read his word and it's become very clear of what I should do. But well, maybe God's wrong and maybe I didn't interpret him right. That's the wavering. He said ask without any wavering, god will give you direction and he is good. He's going to bring something good from this. You're not undergoing this trial just for painstaking.

Steve 9:14

The other side of that that you're talking about there, of doubting, is faith. He uses that earlier in the verse that they must ask in faith. Now, this faith that's used here is the Greek word pistis, which means to be fully convinced. It's also something that that which is something that is completely or fully believable. I'm fully convinced that God will grant this to me. The person shouldn't doubt, because the faith that he's asking with is one that is a fully believable faith. It's not a demanding faith. It's not saying that you can demand something for God to do and God's going to grant it. No, that's not what it's talking about here. Ask in faith, fully believable faith, that the wisdom is going to come to you, and don't doubt that God was going to grant it for you.

Glenn 10:02

Let's look at verse six again.

Glenn 10:03

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. So that description there of the sea think of a seashore with the waves coming in and going out and they're constantly moving and they're crashing against the rocks and there's a lot of turmoil. There's no calm. Seas are not calm. Seas are always in turmoil and tossed about by the wind. The wind blows one way and then tomorrow it's a different way.

Glenn 10:33

That theme is picked up in several passages in the New Testament. Paul says in Ephesians we should no longer be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine or every wind of teaching. Ephesians 414. James is saying that when we get to a painful decision, we should ask God for wisdom and he will let us know what we should do. If we read his word, it becomes really clear.

Glenn 10:59

This idea of is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That's the man who doubts God, that doubts that God has a purpose and that there's a reason for this. Remember Peter when he climbed out of the boat and walked on the water as long as he was looking at Jesus. He was walking on the water when he got his eyes off of Jesus and started looking around at the sea and getting his eyes on the circumstances. That's when he sank. Similar idea here we should look to Jesus without any doubting and he will have a purpose for what he's doing. If we just look at the pain and of the circumstance, then we're going to sink.

Steve 11:34

This is something that we're going to see in James as we go through is the wording that he uses here, and I think this wording fits directly into a person that's doubting, but I also think it's a good word picture as to the trials You're mentioning, this is all in conjunction with how he started off Consider all the trials that you have as joy and, as you've pointed out, ask for the wisdom to understand why the trials are there. But that's how trials sometimes you feel like you're like a boat that's rudderless or a boat that doesn't have any power and the trials are just tossing you back and forth and beating you. You get that picture there, that a person that is going through these trials and doesn't ask for wisdom to understand that by doing that, we can see the calm through these trials and not be tossed about to and fro by the trials that we come to. To me, it's just. Everything is fitting in here, and James is talking about these trials. Consider it for joy. Look for wisdom to understand why you're having them.

Christian Faith and Disobedience

Glenn 12:38

These health and wealth guys that take passages like this and use it to say that if we just ask God without doubting, he's always going to heal us and always going to make us wealthy. These guys are false teachers. The reason I can confidently say that is what did James just say in verse two? You alluded to it, steve. He had just said consider it all joy when you have trials. Well, the trials are painful. It requires endurance, which is what he just been talking about. So it's very clear here we will have trials, they will be painful, we will endure it.

Glenn 13:13

But he's saying consider it joy because God has a purpose in this. If we just merely ask him in faith, without doubting that God's in control here, that he's working something out, there's a purpose for this, that's what we should not doubt. He'll generously give us blessings because of that. That's the message here. Now, if we were to move on here, in the next one it says in verse eight, it's talking about being double-minded. And it says double-minded though literal Greek is don't be too sold, as if someone was wavering between the old self and the new self. What does the New Testament say, steve, about this idea that Christians have a new self and an old self?

Steve 13:56

Paul talks about that in several of his epistles of that whenever we become a believer in Christ and we are in Christ, that we are a new creation and that we are to throw off the old self, the old sinful ways and the ways that we lived, and put on the new self, to put on the new man that Paul talks about that several times. So, as you mentioned here, double-minded, don't be wavering between the old self, the old person and the new person. We need to continue moving on with the new self that we are.

Glenn 14:32

That's what he means in verse eight when he says they're about being double-minded, unstable in your ways. So with that, steve, here's a question, a legitimate, significant, I think, deep question. Maybe not so obvious when you first hear it, but is it possible for someone to have saving faith that's a legitimate Christian with saving faith and that person be not following God in His commandments on a daily basis? Can someone be a Christian, have saving faith, whatever that means, but yet be in disobedience to God on a daily basis? That is this double-minded man he's saying here don't be that way, but is it possible for somebody to be that way?

Steve 15:16

The answer that I give might be a little bit surprising. I think that people I'll explain it this way. I think that there are times when some Christians go through periods of whenever they might be away from the Lord. My personal testimony is that way I was saved, fully convinced, and know that I was saved at the age of eight and my life had changed as I grew up and through high school. I started doing some things, but my faith was that was always there and it was always that I shouldn't be doing those things.

Steve 15:48

As I moved out of the house into the college years and then in the working years I was not living a full Christian life, so to speak, and somebody might have looked at me at the time and said that guy, he's not a Christian, but I was a Christian the whole time.

Steve 16:05

I had the Holy Spirit saying what you're doing is not right. You need to come back, you need to get into a relationship with me. I still had that relationship, but I was just kind of far from God and that always kept me from going too far. Then there came a point later whenever I said look, I'm tired of doing it all on my own, lord, I'm going to completely follow you. You take me where you want me to lead. Then I got into a situation where it's been more consistent. So my answer would be is is that saving faith is saving faith in that there might be times whenever a person might wander, but yet they're always going to have the Holy Spirit that there that's going to be pulling them back and drawing them back to do the right thing and to live the Christian life.

Glenn 16:52

I would answer it this way. If the question is as I ask it, is it possible for somebody to have genuine saving faith and be at the same time disobeying God's commandments? I'd say most definitely. Yes, it happens all the time. We see it in my life I have a similar story and I look around at Christians. I know I've never met one of them that never sinned. We have people that are genuinely following the Lord, saved people but still not following the Lord. In some cases Now, hopefully temporary, hopefully they confess and get right, because one of the most miserable persons in the world is somebody that is a true child of God. That's in disobedience. That's a miserable person, but it happens all the time.

Glenn 17:35

Paul says in the New Testament I am the chief of sinners. He doesn't say I was the chief of sinners. He says as a Christian, I am the chief of sinners. At the end of Romans, chapter 7, he's turmoiled between the old self and the new self, that there's this knockdown, drag out, fight going on inside of him. He's in turmoil between the things he wants to do and the things he's actually doing. Is there possible for a Christian to be a Christian and in disobedience to God? Yes, most definitely. Yes, we see it all the time. The reason I ask that is because it's really easy for some Christians to get kind of high-minded and they have pet sins and they look around for other people who might be doing that pet sin and they get really judgmental, whereas, jesus, what do you say Before you take the speck out of your brother's eye, get the log out of your own eye, because we're all, at one point or another, in disobedience to our Lord that we're genuinely following?

Steve 18:34

I think, Glenn, another reason that you're bringing this up is because there's a doctrine called Lordship Salvation. This Lordship Salvation we might do another session on that as part of our doctrine series but this teaching of this Lordship Salvation says is that if you're a true Christian, you will always live a Christian life doing the things of God. That means that in my case during that time, whenever I was away, that they would say oh no, you're not a Christian because you're not living a Christian life. What you just described there is is that we do have this struggle between the old self and the new self Scripture is clear about that and that this Lordship salvation teaching sometimes gets into legalism and it puts a burden on people to where they're saying I'm not living a Christian life, therefore I must not have salvation, and it causes doubt in people.

The Concept of Wealth and Humility

Steve 19:35

I have talked with people that have this doubt because of it am I truly saved or not? Then they go and they rededicate their life and then a little bit later they kind of wander from God again and they go. I guess I'm not saved. It causes this doubting whether or not they have salvation. I believe that the Scripture is clear when you have salvation, you know that you have salvation, so that you can live the Christian life and be assured of that salvation, that through those times, whenever we wander and come back, that we can still have that peace about us, that we have salvation, this Lordship. Salvation is one that puts burdens on people many times and causes a lot of unnecessary doubt, in my opinion.

Glenn 20:21

The Lordship salvation discussion, I guess I'd call it, was between two groups of some teachers. On one hand there was the Lordship salvation group and they were responding to a different group called the Free Grace movement. The Free Grace movement was closer to the side of well, if anybody that just kind of sort of yeah, I kind of want to go to heaven, is counted as saving faith. There was a lot of people discussing that back and forth. Perhaps someday we'll get into a deeper discussion. But if our listeners want to get more into that, then just go look up those terms here. James is sort of a natural jumping off point for some of these concepts. So, steve, let's go ahead and go to the next section, if you could read verses 9 through 11.

Steve 21:04

But the brother of humble circumstances is to glory in his high position, and the rich man is the glory in his humiliation because, like flowering grass, he will pass away. For the sun rises with a scorching wind and withers, the grass and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed. So too the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away.

Glenn 21:28

So there in verse 9, what is this verse saying when it says let the brother of humble circumstances glory in his high position?

Steve 21:36

What does that mean? Well, the brother, the church member, should glory in his high position. In other words, he has salvation and we should have glory that we have this eternal life. We should glory in that we have this relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Things that we get that scripture talks about we can enter into their own room of God at any time and petition him with our prayers All of the different things that Colossian talks about us being in Christ. We should glory in those type of things.

Glenn 22:07

What James is doing here is that plus he's also saying he's contrasting a poor person with a rich person. That's the concept here. He's going to have that theme in other places in this book. Let's look at the verse again, at verse 9. He says but the brother of humble circumstances. Well, that's James's nice way of saying the poor. He's saying there the poor person should glory in his high position. And that high position is exactly what you were just talking about, steve.

Glenn 22:35

The rest of the New Testament, colossians and other places talk about these wonderful inheritances we get as a Christian and the great spiritual blessings that are poured down on the Christian. What he's saying there is the poor person should give thanks because God has taught many more lessons and given you more. If you're poor, then you know you're dependent on the Lord. Rich person, what do I need the Lord for? Got all my human needs met. That's the concept here. There's a great blessing in being dependent on the Lord. That's what he's hinting at here. Also in verse 9, who is he talking to? He says all the brother of humble circumstances. So he's talking about. He's talking to Christians, right Church members, people who are already Christian. That's the idea here Christian, if you're poor, glory in the blessings that God has given you. In verse 10,. A rich man should glory in his humiliation. So that's the concept here, as he's given this contrast between what the poor man should glory in and what the rich man should glory in.

Steve 23:43

It's really saying that a Christian or a believing rich person should be humble, should have humiliation. That's the attitude that they should have. Therefore, they should live a life of humbleness in front of the Lord. It's not their riches that got them to the place where they were.

Glenn 24:02

So if we were to ask the question what are these riches? We can give a list. We went through a lot of them when we went through Colossians. But Christians are adopted as sons and daughters. We are a child of the King. We have a royal inheritance. We are heirs to the kingdom. If you're a Christian, even if you're poor, you have blessings in Christ. Paul said that Christians have quote riches of the glory of his inheritance in Ephesians 1-8. Is it possible for us to just stop and realize all of the glories that we have, to meditate on all these blessings we have in Christ? We should think about those more. I think a lot of times the problems get all of our attention in our prayers and we don't praise God for the things that we do have near enough.

Steve 24:49

Yeah, I mean, that's exactly what James is talking about. He started out with considering all these trials that you have, considering all of them with joy. He's now gotten down to these verses, talking about the rich and the poor. It's our position that we have, no matter what status we are in life, that we should glory in those circumstances that we have because we have the salvation. That's the thing that holds it all together as to where we can consider it joy for the trials, pray for the wisdom, all of it works together. So, yes, very much so. We should live our life in such a way, no matter whether we rich or poor, that we are happy and joyful, that we have the salvation.

Glenn 25:38

Is it possible for any Christian to look at our circumstances, even poor Christians, and say I can accomplish much in the kingdom. I may be a lowly person, but because of where God has placed me, I can accomplish much in the kingdom of God. Can any Christian say that?

Steve 26:00

Yeah, what did Jesus say when he was talking with his disciples and others? He said the first will be last and the last will be first. That's another way of looking at it. Yes, we can, in our life, live in such a way of knowing that what is coming in the future is going to be something that is going to be great, much greater than what we're living through now.

Glenn 26:22

Look at verses 10 and 11. It talks about the rich person and the riches. So what does verse 10 and 11 say will happen with riches? Look at the descriptive language there. It's because one hand in verse 10, it says like a flowering grass, he's going to fade away. Because when the sun rises, a scorching wind withers the grass and the flower falls off and the beauty is destroyed. So too is the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will fade away. Steve, I've seen in history, you're learned in history there have been some very wealthy people that where are they today? Well, they're just as dead as the poor man. And so where does all of their riches go? Well, they don't take it with them. They'll come a day when the political power, the wealth and all the rich trappings all fades away, just like when the sun comes up and withers the flower. He's saying don't put your faith and don't put your value in the earthly riches, because those are going to fade away. That's his message.

Steve 27:26

A word there that's used is pursuit, and that sometimes becomes a trap for people that are focused on wealth and that they start living their life figuring out ways how can I get more and more wealth. It's a pursuit for them and their focus is on that rather than living for Christ. James is talking about that here. The rich man should glory in his humiliation of being a Christian, because if you're out there just pursuing wealth on its own, all of that stuff is going to go away.

Glenn 27:58

One last point here is we run out of time. Every Christian should ask ourselves what we would do if we lost all of the resources that we have. If we lost all of the earthly resources, what would you do if the country you're in, if the entire money system failed? That's happened more than once, more than twice, more than a handful of times throughout history. There have been times where the entire economies have failed. We had faith in our money, but there was times where the money system failed to the point that the dollars were worthless.

The Misery of Wealth and Pursuit

Glenn 28:31

I've seen some countries in our lifetime the money bills were being used to glue together, to make art projects, to sell to people, to try to make some living, because the actual cash was worth nothing. It wasn't worth the paper it's printed on. That happens periodically. What are we going to do if we think we're well off financially and the entire money system fails? It could happen. What are we going to do if we find out that our things that we put trust in in this life are gone? Steve, I have a question. Would you rather have a earthly fortune or a heavenly fortune?

Steve 29:09

I would rather have the heavenly fortune, because it's going to last a heck of a lot longer than the earthly fortune, for sure.

Glenn 29:15

Well, that's a good answer because and James would agree because what James is saying is that there's no advantage before God in being wealthy. There's no advantage before God in being wealthy, matter of fact, the wealth, if anything, will get in the way. It's more of a challenge when you're wealthy, because now there's all this focus and attention on keeping it, preserving it and what do we do with it. I have to handle it wisely and all these things. That's the answer. If we look at who the world holds up as their heroes the Hollywood stars and the rock stars and the wealthy people these people live miserable lives. They live just the opposite of what James is talking about here. These people are so wealthy, but their lives are just in horrible condition. They're in a lot of just pain and destruction.

Steve 30:06

There's a lot of worry in the pursuit of wealth and gathering it. Then there's even more worry in how to keep it and how to retain it. It just becomes a great, great burden.

Glenn 30:17

We've got to a stopping point for today. We will be back next time because James is going to continue his idea here of what we do with these trials and the wisdom. He's going to be talking about that next time. We're going to continue to reason through the Bible here and we trust that you'll be back with us next time.

Steve 30:37

Thank you so much for watching and listening. May God bless you.