Doubt and Comfort

 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.  For you know when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow.  So, let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God and he will give it to you without hesitation.  But let him ask in faith, with no doubt, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.  Such a double-minded person, unstable in all his ways, who not receive anything from the Lord.  James 1:2-7 

What a great promise!  The assurance that God wants to give us what we need during times of trial!  James makes it clear:  what God has to give is wisdom. The question is whether we want the same thing God does.  This is seen in James' use of "doubt."  Only doubt will keep us from the wisdom to get through difficult times.

The word is not being unsure but rather being sure...of yourself, of thinking that your answer is the only answer for relieving the stressor, thinking that you can dictate to God what you want for a solution.

Doubt - diakrino - dia+ krino - with prejudice, with judgment;  to withdraw or oppose other offerings.

In my interpretation, doubt is to already know, to be assured of one's assessment, against God's assessment and judgment.  "Ask in faith, not resting on your own assessment of the situation as if you know, thus, never hearing from God..."

How many times have I told God what to do!

How many solutions I have offered him!

That is not the door to wisdom.  That thinking shuts the door to receiving God's thoughts and solutions to a difficult situation.  What it takes to cause us to finally give up on ourself and finally be willing to listen to God can be harrowing.

An adult student of mine, who through years of addiction and drug dealing, finally faced the moment when all he could do was listen to God.  As the prison doors shut, he realized that no one could help him.  He was getting his just dues.  He said, "I realized that I had nothing, no one...but God.  I knew he was not likely to get me out of prison.  I had committed the crime and now I was going to do the time.  So, I asked for the one thing I knew from scripture that I could claim:  'Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction...'  So, I prayed for the comforting presence of His Holy Spirit.  I didn't ask for privilege or protection, just His presence."

Finally seeking what God wants is the way to wisdom.  I put aside my prejudice and predetermined answers/solutions.  I have found that when I have asked, He has told me yes or no and sometimes He has told me, "Better than this."  And the best is always His presence.