This Day in History: 0000-01-18
January 18 – James 1:5-8
If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and He will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. But when you ask Him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, far a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
Have you ever noticed how many times in the Bible we are told to ask God for something? I hadn’t. Have you ever noticed what great value the Lord puts on wisdom from Genesis through Revelation? Until recently it hadn’t stood out to me. But the Bible says that God gives wisdom, knowledge and joy to those who please Him. And that the fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be a fool! I want to please God and I want Him to give me wisdom, understanding and joy! The Bible also tells us to ask, and we will receive, to seek and we will find, and to knock and the door will be opened to us!
Do you lack wisdom? What area of your life escapes your understanding today? Is there anything that is so heavy on your mind that you don’t know how you’re going to deal with it or how you should handle it? Do you read Scripture and wonder why it doesn’t speak to you the way it seems to for other believers? Our loving Father is longing to hear us ask Him for help! He will not rebuke us! Whatever wisdom it is that we need today, we need only ask! BUT, let’s not graze over the warning! Let’s be mindful of our hearts! We must be absolutely certain that our faith is in God alone! No religious system, no secular wisdom, no scientific discovery, not our own piety, not even the thoughts of another respected believer should ever trump the Word of God! We must ultimately look only to Him. Because the second we start looking outside of His Word, and allow our thinking to be shaped by lesser things, we become as unsettled as the waves of the sea. Tossed and blown about by the wind. Unstable in all that we do! Let’s put our faith in God alone and ask Him for whatever wisdom we need today. We are His, and He is eager to give us what we ask for!