Navigating Life's Challenges with God's Wisdom
When navigating difficult situations, problems, or relationships, it helps if we can get to the root cause of the problem. Addressing the root issue will result in better outcomes but beware because sometimes we might just discover that the root cause may have more to do with us than we previously thought.
James 4:1 opens with a question, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?” This question comes right after James has reminded us that our source of wisdom needs to be from God and not from man. At the end of chapter three, James reminds us of the following:
“For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
As we follow Jesus, we of course want our attitudes and behaviors to reflect the character and behavior Jesus exhibited while on earth. In chapter four, James is pushing the reader to do a root cause analysis because it is likely that our biggest problem is not our coworker, our boss, or the political party opposite of ours. Our biggest problem might just be that we haven’t resolved the war inside of us. Our real issue has to do with our willingness to pursue God’s wisdom or settle for the inferior wisdom driven by our desire to fit in with the world and follow its ways.
Sometimes it seems that we forget that God went all in for us. Our Heavenly Father saw our weaknesses, our selfish desires, and our struggle to find peace with ourselves and others. God’s solution was to send Jesus, who not only modeled how we are to live but chose to pay the ultimate price, giving his life on the cross to pay for our sins and reconcile us to God. As James explained, God yearns jealously over the Spirit that he has given that dwells in us.
When we admit that we still stubbornly try to solve our problems on our own or by the systems the world offers, we reveal that we have the humility to accept God’s plans for us. When we humble ourselves before God daily, we discover that God leans into our situation, our thinking, and grants us both wisdom and strength to resist the solutions of the world.
James is clear that we must make a daily choice to seek God’s wisdom, or else we fall into categories that are unpleasant at minimum and are life threatening in the end. Here are the descriptions James uses for the ones who seek their own solutions instead of operating from God’s wisdom:
-Our passions are at war within
-We covet but can’t obtain, so we revert to fighting and quarreling
-We are lacking because we don’t ask with pure hearts
-We are driven by our passions instead of by compassion
-Our friendship with the world results in enmity and strife with God
-We are viewed as double-minded
And all of this taken to the natural outcomes can result in spiritual adultery.
The good news is that when we come to our Heavenly Father in humility, he gives us more grace. As we draw near, he draws near. When we resist the attacks of our spiritual enemy, we will watch him run away, freeing us to fully embrace the goodness and the grace of God.
Heavenly Father, we love you and come to you today confessing our internal struggle with the temptation to follow self and the world instead of surrendering to your perfect will and plan for us. Cleanse us, that we might fully receive all of your goodness and grace and dwell in peace with you and with others. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
James 4:1-8 ESV
Photo by Felix Mittermeier on Unsplash
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