C. Ask God for Wisdom in Faith (1:5-8)

Ver 5. But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

If you are acquainted with the context, you will at once perceive that this verse has a special reference to persons in trouble. Much-tempted and severely-tried saints are frequently at their wits’ end, and though they may be persuaded that in the end good will come out of all their afflictions, yet for the present they may be so distracted as not to know what to do.

If any of you lacks wisdom. This text might be peculiarly comforting to some of you who are working for God. You cannot work long for your heavenly Lord without perceiving that you need a greater wisdom than your own. Why, even in directing an inquirer to the cross of Christ, simple work as that may seem to be, we shall often discover our own inability and folly. In rebuking the backslider, in comforting the desponding, in restoring the fallen, in guiding the ignorant, we shall need to be taught of God, or else we shall meet with more failures than successes. To every honest Christian worker this text speaks with all the soft melody of an angel’s whisper. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.”

Ask God. I beg to caution all of you against stopping short of really asking of God. Be not content with asking the pastor, the deacons, and elders—God has made many of them wise in helping souls out of difficulties. Do not be satisfied with the advice of any man, however godly and holy, but go directly to the Lord God of heaven and earth, and say unto Him, “Lord, teach Thou me! Show me Your way, O God! Teach me in Your truth!”

You are not bid to go to any second-hand source of wisdom, but to God the only Wise, who alone can direct you. Moreover, remember that there is one blessed person of the divine Unity who makes it His special office to teach us! Hence, if you go to God for wisdom, you only go for that which it is His nature and His office to give. The Holy Spirit is given to this end, “He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

Who gives to all. By all, he means those who ask; for they who seek no remedy for their wants, deserve to pine away in them. However, this universal declaration, by which every one of us is invited to ask, without exception, is very important; hence no man ought to deprive himself of so great a privilege.

Liberally. The beggar asks for alms. You are to ask as the beggar asks of you in the street, and God will give to you far more liberally than you give to the poor. You must confess that you have no merit of your own. If you will not acknowledge that, neither will God hear your prayers. But come now with the acknowledgment of ignorance, with the confession of sin, and believing that God is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, and He will even now give you the wisdom which saves the soul.

Without reproach. This is added, lest any one should fear to come too often to God. Those who are the most liberal among men, when any one asks often to be helped, mention their former acts of kindness, and thus excuse themselves for the future. Hence, a mortal man, however open-handed he may be, we are ashamed to weary by asking too often. But James reminds us, that there is nothing like this in God; for he is ready ever to add new blessings to former ones, without any end or limitation.

It will be given to him. Do you think God does not mean what He says? O sinner, will you add to all your other sins this sin of thinking that God would lie? O man, He invites you to ask of Him wisdom, and He says He will give it to you. Doubt not the Lord, distrust not the veracity of Jehovah, but come at once humbly, tremblingly, to the foot of the Savior’s cross.

Ver 6. But let him ask in faith, without any doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed.

Ask in faith. Faith is a grace that one expression supposes and another expressly requires: "Knowing this, that the trial of your faith" (James 1:3); and; "Let him ask in faith" (James 1:6). There must be a sound believing of the great truths of Christianity, and a resolute cleaving to them, in times of trial. That faith which is spoken of here as tried by afflictions consists in a belief of the power, and word, and promise of God, and in fidelity and constancy to the Lord Jesus.

Without any doubting. This principle, then, we hold, that our prayers are not heard by the Lord, except when we have a confidence that we shall obtain. The case is the same as with a tree, which has struck firm roots; it shakes, indeed, through the blowing of the wind, but is not rooted up; on the contrary, it remains firm in its own place. Through the infirmity of our flesh we are tossed by various temptations, so that no one is found who does not vacillate and tremble according to the feeling of his flesh; but temptations of this kind are at length to be overcome by faith.

Ver 7. For that man shouldn’t think that he will receive anything from the Lord.

If a man asks of God riches, that is not what He has promised to give. If he asks of God good health, that may be granted to him, but still, the promise is concerning wisdom, and that is what the man needs, therefore, let him with all his heart pray, “Lord, give me wisdom.” I think our prayers would succeed much better if we were not so wavering about what it is that we really require, and if we were not dubious as to whether God could give us that very thing.

If it is wisdom that you need, it will be essential, when you ask for that wisdom, that you decidedly believe that this Book, through which God teaches us wisdom, is really inspired, so that what it teaches is distinctly and unquestionably true—and is received by you as the utterance of infallibility. Ask of God in the full belief that it is so, or else I do not see how you can pray to be guided.

Moreover, the Author of the Bible is prepared to teach you concerning the things which are written in this Book, and it is essential, when you ask for wisdom, that you should believe that the Holy Spirit is able to enlighten you and is willing to instruct you concerning those things which now perplex you. Go, then, to God in prayer, believing in His Word and believing in His Holy Spirit.

Ver 8. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

He is a double-minded man. The man of a double mind here is the man who hesitates between faith and unbelief, because faith is the subject of the passage. When again used, in James 4:8, it means a hesitation between God and the world.

This verse follows as the conclusion of the preceding doctrine; and thus there is an implied contrast between the simplicity or liberality of God, mentioned before, and the double-mindedness of man. He then says that the unbelieving and doubting are unstable; because they are never firm or fixed, but at one time they swell with the confidence of the flesh, at another they sink into the depth of despair.