James 1:5
In many areas of life, realizing
your need is the first step towards getting help. So it is with wisdom. The first thing you need to do is recognize
that you do not have the wisdom you need, which should then drive you to ask
God for it – which bring us to our next point today
II. WISDOM ASKED
“Let him ask of God”, James goes
on to say. The One we need to ask for
wisdom is GOD. He says, “Let him ask of
God”!. Proverbs 3:5 says: “do not lean on your own understanding” – instead,
ask God! Don’t just go to your friends;
don’t just see what everyone is saying on television or on the internet. They don’t have true wisdom. In Job 28, Job
asks, “But where can wisdom be found? … Man does not know its value, nor is it
found in the land of the living. The
deep says, ‘it is not in me’; and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’ … Pure
gold cannot be given in exchange for it, nor can silver be weighed as its price
… Where does wisdom come from? And where
is the place of understanding? Thus it
is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the
sky. Abaddon and Death say, ‘With our
ears we have heard a report of it.’ GOD
understands its way, and HE knows its place.”
One of the great examples in scripture of
someone who asked God for wisdom in her trials was Rebekah in Genesis 25. Rebekah was pregnant with twins, and :22 says
that “the children struggled within her; and she said, ‘If it is so, then why
am I this way?’ So she went to inquire of the Lord.” She could tell that something was going on inside
of her – it was a “trial”. – So in her trial she went to the Lord for
wisdom. She asked: “If it is so, then
why I am this way?” What was God’s
purpose for what she could feel going on inside of her? She did JUST the right thing with her
question: it says “So she went to inquire of the Lord.” And when she did, God told her about how the
two children inside of her were two nations who would always be struggling
together. But the point for us today is
that in her trial, Rebekah took her need for wisdom to the Lord. Rebekah serves
as a model for us all in a couple of ways: FIRST in that she was not content to
just “go along” with this trial without knowing WHY these things were
happening. She wanted to know what God’s
purpose in it was. That is what all
people of faith should do. We believe
there is a God; so we believe that there is a purpose for everything. This is one of the things that separates us
from unbelievers; indeed, it is what separates from the animals! Think about it: even animals endure what happens
to them – but they don’t seek any “reason” or purpose behind it. But God has made us higher than that; He has
made us in His own image. We are to seek
His reason and purpose behind everything that He sends our way. To fail to seek God’s wisdom in our trials is
not only to disbelieve, but also in a sense to fail to be human! So Rebekah was wise first of all, because she
sought wisdom for her situation.
Secondly, Rebekah went to right
place with her need for wisdom. Genesis
says: “So she went to inquire of the Lord”.
That is exactly what we need to do too.
Take your need for wisdom to the Lord.
“Let him ask of God”, James says.
Well, what does it mean to “ask of God”? How do you seek God’s wisdom? There are several ways: first, seek His wisdom in prayer. Seek God
in prayer, and ask Him for the wisdom you need. Secondly, seek His wisdom in
His word. God’s Spirit makes gives us
wisdom in His word! Search His
word. Look specifically for what the
Bible says about the thing that you are going through. Third, you can also seek
God’s wisdom through godly counselors.
Someone asked me this week: “Is it wrong to seek counsel for an issue in
my life, or should I just try to handle this on my own?” The answer is NO! It is not wrong to seek wise counsel. God made us to need each other. Seeking godly, Christian counsel is one way
of seeking God, through the agency of the people He has gifted with His wisdom
and insight. But make sure that it IS
godly, wise, Biblical counsel that you are getting, and not just a well-meaning
friend who is not walking with God, and who does not have an intimate knowledge
of His word. I see some of the biggest
mistakes made by people whose friends tell them what they want to hear instead
of what God says in His word. Go to
someone who will tell you the truth! If
you will, then that godly counsel can be an important element in seeking God’s
wisdom.
Seek God in prayer, in His word,
through circumstances, and through godly counsel. We need wisdom; let’s ASK for it from the
right place – “Let him ask of God.”
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