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James 1:6–8
“Let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
No one should doubt God’s willingness to give wisdom when we ask for it. After all, He generously bestows wisdom without reluctance or reproach (James 1:5). The best example of His generous provision of wisdom can be seen in His giving us Wisdom incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:22–25). Still, James knows that we are prone to doubt the Lord’s promises, so in today’s passage he writes that we must approach with the right frame of mind when we ask for wisdom—or, indeed, anything.
The right frame of mind, James 1:6 says, has “no doubting.” This raises a potential problem, since even the greatest saints doubt the Lord at times. If even Abraham doubted God’s promise, as seen in his fathering Ishmael by Hagar (Gen. 16), what hope do we have of asking God without doubting? That Abraham persevered in faith, receiving what he asked despite his momentary lapse (Rom. 4:13–24; James 2:21–23), helps us grasp James’ meaning. James does not teach that the Lord will never give us what we pray for if we entertain even the slightest doubt; rather, he means for us to have an undivided faith that trusts in the benevolent character of God. Such faith may at times harbor some doubt, but it perseveres past the doubt, ever aiming to trust wholeheartedly in the goodness of God no matter how He answers prayer. This faith believes that the Lord ultimately does what is best for us even when He does not give us exactly what we ask. John Calvin comments that James “would have us then to be so convinced of what God has once promised, as not to admit a doubt whether he shall be heard or not.”
The Apostle calls us to have a basic consistency to our character and a foundational confidence in divine goodness that remains even if we waver at times. Perpetual doubt makes us as unpredictable and unstable as the waves of the sea and thus unable to ask God for the proper things or to be of any real use to the kingdom (James 1:6–7). We become noncommittal, fair-weather friends of Christ and His church. James warns us not to be the double-minded person, the one who asks for God’s wisdom one day and then wants the wisdom of the world the next (v. 8). What we need is a continuing and growing trust in the Lord that characterizes us as we seek to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Deut. 6:5; Matt. 22:37). With such trust, we will pray according to God’s will, and our prayers will have great power (James 5:16).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Matthew Henry writes about the benefits that come with a single-minded trust in God: “A mind that has but one single and prevailing regard to its spiritual and eternal interest, and that keeps steady in its purposes for God, will grow wise by afflictions, will continue fervent in its devotions, and will be superior to all trials and oppositions.” Let us aim for such a wholehearted confidence in God’s goodness.
For further study
- Psalm 119:1–3
- Matthew 6:24
- Mark 12:28–34
- James 4:8
The bible in a year
- Genesis 17–19
- Matthew 7