I spend a fair amount of my day in traffic. This experience, no doubt shared by many readers of these words, has given rise to a useful analogy. We can call it the “road of life”.
Sometimes as we drive down this “road”, we come to dangerous intersections. Sometimes we refer to these as “forks in the road”. They are those moments where a choice we make or don’t make sets us on a course that could influence the rest of our journey. Do we stop or go? Turn right or left? Go ahead or turn back? Perhaps you feel like you are at a dangerous intersection right now in your life?
The Bible speaks about a divine resource we can utilize when we come to those intersections. It is called wisdom. Sometimes when we get to that fork in the road, or more plainly, a time of choosing, we will realize that we don’t have an answer, we don’t have wisdom.
“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. 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” (James 1:2-5).
James begins with the various trials we encounter in life. These are the difficulties and afflictions that come our way. It is during a time of trial that we may become so deeply involved in it, we can’t see our way out. Maybe it’s because we don’t understand the cause of the trial or its purpose. At those times, we are confused, and feel acutely our shortage of wisdom. In verse 5, James addresses this situation directly, and in verses 6-8 he cautions,
“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
Like forks in the road, life brings us choices, choices we don’t always see a clear answer to. In other words, life creates a demand for wisdom that we don’t always have.
What is wisdom?
There are various definitions of wisdom. Webster defines it as “the ability to make right use of knowledge”. My favorite is from dictionary.com: “knowledge of what is true or right coupled with just judgment as to action; sagacity, discernment, or insight”. It all sounds very intellectual.
There is an aspect of knowledge in wisdom. But it goes beyond that. Wisdom often involves the practical use of knowledge to deal with life’s ‘forks in the road’.
Wisdom, then, is the convergence of knowledge and skill that enables a person to make right choices at the fork in the road; more importantly, in our road to the Kingdom of God, the right choices that put us on the right path.
In Prov 1:7 we are told that the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”. From a Biblical perspective, if a person does not know God who created all things, revealed truth, and established absolute values, then he cannot be wise. How could a person make right choices without knowing God and His truth? So, wisdom begins with the fear of the Lord, with a reverence that opens our ears to all God’s instruction and counsel.
The Need For Wisdom
To provide further clarity about wisdom, consider its opposite — foolishness. Indeed, Biblically, someone who is not wise, is a fool. Prov 1:7 contrasts the reverence and humility that marks the beginning of wisdom with the fool’s response to God: “fools despise wisdom and instruction”. The fool has no use for God’s instruction and in the end makes poor choices.
I can count many conundrums in my life, various forks, and forks that weren’t forks; sometimes you just don’t know what to do, because you don’t know the path that God wants you to follow. And these can be related to problems common to us all: financial problems, family problems, relationship problems, work problems. We really don’t always have clear answers at these intersections we come to in life.
But also think how many times have we thought we didn’t need help. As we often say, “I know what I’m doing”. The fool’s famous last words!
If we do not face up to our lack of wisdom, we will never ask for it. It is the arrogant person who thinks they never need counsel. It is the foolish person who refuses to admit his/her need for wisdom.
So when you face a situation you cannot figure out and you don’t know which way to turn or what to do or think, what do you do? James has the answer:
“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. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind” (James 1:5-6).
Wisdom is a divine gift from the One who knows. You don’t get wisdom by living a long life or experiencing many different things. You get it from God.
So rather than trying to figure things out yourself, or seeking advice from the world around you, turn to the one who knows — God. For God will give you wisdom liberally. He knows how badly you need it. James says God will give us wisdom without reproach, that is, without finding fault or giving insult. God wants us to come to Him for wisdom. We should not be too embarrassed or too proud to ask. We will not be reproached or demeaned, as sometimes happens in the world.
But there is one thing more we need to learn from James. Up until now, I’ve painted a very positive picture, but James adds this warning:
“…for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord” (James 1:6-7).
What does this mean? It means what it says: Wisdom comes to those who ask in faith and do not doubt, but trust fully in the Lord.
To doubt means to be uncertain. The doubter is one who is uncertain of the Lord. This doubt could arise from an incomplete trust, from an incomplete love for God and His ways, from divided loyalties. The doubter is a wave of the sea tossed around by the wind, a vacillating Christian, one who cannot decide from one trial to the next whether they will really trust the Lord and follow His wisdom. Sadly, for this person, James adds, “let not that man suppose he will receive anything from the Lord”.
There is a country song that starts “God, I’m down here on my knees cause it’s the last place left to fall”. Interestingly, this song draws from a quote by Abraham Lincoln: “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day.”
There comes a time in our life when we have nowhere else to go, when those forks in the road have driven us to a place where we can’t find an answer, only more questions. All the wisdom we’ve acquired through our life just isn’t enough. At these times, think of Proverbs, and think of James. The beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and those who ask in faith will be given liberally of the wisdom of God.
“Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12).
Perhaps the real purpose of temptation, ultimately, is to teach us where to find true wisdom so that we may become “perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:4).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One