Asking Wisdom

James 1:5

5 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. (KJV)

Do any of you ever feel uncomfortable asking God for understanding or wisdom about something, especially if you feel that you should already know or understand it. Well, I have good news for you.

The above verse applies. Forget whether it is something you should already know by now. If you don’t understand, don’t have the wisdom, don’t beat yourself over the head because of your ignorance, and don’t be too proud or ashamed to ask God. God is not only delighted to reveal to you what you need to know, especially in the area of wisdom in handling a situation, but He doesn’t fuss at you for asking. See those words "upbraideth not"? Now people do upbraid, they do scold. Upbraid by the way in an old word no longer used but was commonly used in King James’ time. Let us look at the verse in a modern English translation.

James 1:5

5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (NAS)

Now notice the second clause of that sentence. God who gives to all men liberally or generously. God is quite happy to give you the wisdom you need, and He is generous with it. He is not stingy. People will sometimes begrudge giving out explanations or wisdom. God does not begrudge doing that at all. Aren’t you glad God is not like so much of the human race?

So if you have questions, go ahead and ask God. He not only will not bite your head off, but He will say, "Delighted you asked. Here is the answer……." Many a time God has explained to me what I needed to do or how I needed to handle a situation, or what I needed to understand.

What you may not realize is God is a very generous and loving God. Your automatic concept of Him may be that He rewards very sparingly or even blesses very sparingly. Jesus made it clear that is not the case. Stop and think about what you think God is like. Do you realize how real He is? Do you realize that He even hovers over you like a mother hen? Lots of people think He is some being out there in the universe who doesn’t even like to get involved in human lives. But what does the Bible say about Him? Have you ever done a study on God’s character and personality? You might consider doing that through both the old and new Testaments. You will be pleasantly surprised to find He has a generous heart and longs for His people to depend on Him so He can guide them. A study on God’s names will help.

Maybe you say, but God has not given me wisdom or supplied answers much

for me, or seldom does that for me. Well, next week we will get into the conditions James in the next verse explains one of the main hindrances to receiving from God.

This is all for today, folks.  Your Good News Lady