James 1:5-6, Ask in Faith, Nothing Wavering
James 1:5-6, “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.”
“Let him ask of God.”
Where do you go when you need something? I don’t know about you, but I’m pulling up Amazon! You can find far more there than you need, for a price of course. (Not sponsored at all!) During the great toilet paper crisis of 2020, I was working at a financial institution with Amazon open in the background of my workstation ready to pull the trigger on any toilet paper that suddenly became available, because it would be gone in a matter of minutes.
Where do you go when you really need something? I hope as a Christian you go where you are invited by God, to the throne of grace. “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:16). Whether it be wisdom as discussed in this Scripture or any other need, let us ask of God. He wants us to ask. He is waiting for us to ask as a Father for His children. He gives liberally, and His gifts are good. Matthew 7:11, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
“Let him ask in faith, nothing wavering.”
But we need to ask in faith. Do we believe God or don’t we? We are such sight-based believers that we struggle with exercising faith. We know we don’t have much faith, because Jesus taught that “if ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” (Matthew 17:20) We would see more, but our faith wavers.
When James says “nothing wavering,” he is referring to having no hesitation, no doubt, and no variance. We hesitate when we ask God to do a work, perhaps even asking for wisdom as this passage teaches and see Him begin to use a trial to answer our request and we pause. We might say, “Wait a minute! This isn’t what I asked for! I don’t want this.” We want the result, but we don’t think it is worth the work done on us. We might hesitate in our faith. Or we tend to doubt that God can even do what He says He will do. We might ask with our lips but our heart is far from belief opening the door for anxiety and fear. If we doubt, are we really exercising any kind of faith? To not exercise full faith puts us at variance of ourselves. Variance is opposition to oneself. We, by our new nature as Christians, are designed to trust God. We trust Him for salvation and a home in Heaven to enjoy in our eternal life. Faith is a necessary part of the walk of the believer. Hebrews 11:6 asserts, “But without faith it is impossible to please him.” Even calling ourselves “believers” implies a continuation of believing God; otherwise, we should be called “the believed” as if it were only in the past. If we are going to ask of God, we better do so in faith, nothing wavering.
“Like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.”
Being seasick feels awful. I’ve been on the water more than a few times in a boat tossed by waves. You learn tricks to try to avoid seasickness, but sometimes it just grips you. We see many seasick Christians tossed “like a wave of the sea driven with the wind.” This picture perfectly describes the wavering faith of a Christian. Our new nature wants to have faith toward God while the winds of doubt drive us the other way. The waves and the wind work in opposition, and progress becomes impossible. In fact, the next verse reads, “For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.” How do we get out of this wavering condition?
When you are seasick, you can find relief in a couple of ways. First, you must get your eyes off your condition and on to something stable like the sky. I have felt the worst seasickness when I’m looking down at the moving boat or have my eyes fixed on something that I am doing too long. As soon as you feel the nausea coming on, you must get your eyes up. Second, you need to get yourself to solid ground. When your footing becomes stable again, you very quickly begin to recover.
Christian, if you don’t want to waver in faith, being tossed around by the wind and waves, you need to get your eyes off the problems and trials and back on to Jesus. Put your focus on the wrong thing and you will waver, but put your focus on your Savior and you can thrive. Also, get yourself back on solid footing. Ground yourself in the Word of God and the promises of God. We waver when we leave solid ground. If you find yourself wavering, ground yourself in Scripture. Don’t leave there until you find what you need so that you can “ask in faith, nothing wavering.”
