The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in James 4:2b-3,
"You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures."
James observes that some of his readers do not receive what they ask for in prayer and tells them why: they ask for the motive of spending what they get from God on their "pleasures". He has already provided a previous reason why prayers go "unanswered" in 1:6-8. There he says that those lacking faith will not receive anything from God, "... when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does."
For me, a caution against asking for things in prayer with wrong motives is a cause to examine myself. I always feel challenged with passages such as this because they strike so close to home. Are my concerns God's concerns? Is my agenda God's agenda? Or, when I as for things from God, am I simply asking God to get onto my agenda to help me pursue the things I want without regard to what his desires are, his agenda?
This, of course, leads me to think in terms of God's motives and his agenda. James wrote to some who didn't receive the things God has for us because they asked "with wrong motives". After some honest self-examination of my own motives, it dawns on me that life isn't all about me and I best get the focus beyond myself and onto God if I hope to have any motives that are pure enough to warrant God responding to my requests.
As I look to God, what do I see? What are the kinds of things that motivate God? What are his character traits that drive his agenda? James is not silent here. He tells us about God. He speaks of God as "the Lawgiver and Judge", the one able to save and destroy. He is "standing at the door!", James 4:12 ; 5:9. James tells us the Lord is coming back, "the Lord's coming is near" as a motivation to keep ourselves from grumbling against one another.
James tells us evil is entirely absent from God. He tempts no one with evil and, of course, he cannot be tempted by evil as well. James 1:13. As we take the Scriptures together, we discover that our very definition of evil is that which is not consistent with God himself. His character and nature is the very definition of good and that which is contrary is evil.
James quotes the book of Proverbs as he also tells us something very important about our relationship with God, "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6.
We see God is a giver of good and perfect gifts, James 1:17. He gives the "crown of life" to those who love him, 1:12, and offers wisdom freely and generously, 1:5. God has chosen to give those in this life who are some of the poorest among us to be "rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he promised to those who love him." James 2:5.
One passage in James letter that I find very insightful of what can be found about God is James 3:17-18. There James speaks of the characteristics of the wisdom that God gives. The wisdom he gives is "pure, then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere." This speaks volumes to me about our wonderful God. James tells us that those who have received God's wisdom are peacemakers who "raise a harvest of righteousness" as they sow in peace.
A wonderful summation James provides is that as we face suffering, we need to remember that the Lord is "full of compassion and mercy", James 5:11.
If I am interested in God answering my prayers, I best find all I can about him to insure my motives fall into line with who God is and what drives his agenda.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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