The Book of James, God, The First Responder!, James 5:13-15 - Lesson 24

One of the recurring questions that you will hear at my house is the question, "Have you prayed about it?".

As I get older I find that the act of losing things and the need to find them has become more prevalent in my life.

I will search and search and then ask my wife if she knows where such and such is.

She expresses herself quite clearly by asking, Have you prayed about it?.

I respond by saying, why didn’t I think of that and then I go about asking God for help in solving my dilemma.

For one thing I know without a doubt is that God knows exactly where the particular thing is that I am looking for.

And then I kick myself for thinking that my first responder should have been my wife who may or may not know where that which I am looking for is, instead of going directly to God who definitely knows where that little thing has gone to.

It is OK to ask God for the little things of life as well as the big things of life, but I find that the natural way is to first call for help upon someone you can see, in favor of someone you cannot see.

In other words how do you and I first respond to the solving of a problem.

Is it the response of "I can do it myself or someone else that I can see can help me" or is our first thought, "I will go to God for help?"

There is a psalm that tells us that God is at the ready to help for in Psalm 46:1 we are told that God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

Note that word present. Sometimes my wife is not present when I have trouble.

She may be outside in the garden, or at the store, or on the other side of the house but this psalm reminds me that God is a very present help in time of trouble.

That means that He is always near and can be called upon for help at all times, in all places and for all problems.

His phone is never in the off position nor does it emit a busy signal.

Lighting never puts a halt to communication with him.

Now what should this teach us?

It teaches me that God is to be the one to whom I first call upon in times of trouble.

He is not to be the last resort but the first resort.

I remember Dr. Hobbs telling us he prayed for a parking space when going to the shopping center and God so often provided the ideal space.

I have done that also but sometimes I forget and wander about the lot looking and looking and looking and then remember to pray.

In this, God was not my first resource but my last resource.

I suppose I reason that I can do these things by myself but there is no need to have that kind of spirit for God tells us ye have not, because ye ask not.

God desires His children to ask, He desires that He be our first responder.

He desires that our first thought is of Him in time of trouble, that our first step in getting a solution to this problem is to go to Him, and not to man.

Now He may direct you to go to man for help but because you went to Him you now know that is the right thing to do.

So the idea that God is to be your first resource is what is expressed in our scripture passage for today for we are to read James 5:13-20:

Let us first look at Verse 13,  Is any among you afflicted? let him pray.

Who is to be the first responder to the afflicted?

It is of course God for it is God to whom we pray.

James in preceding verses told us to be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath.

There has been much scripture cautioning us to be careful in opening our mouths, but now James tells us to open our mouths in prayer when we are afflicted.

There is no caution given here for our first response to affliction is prayer, the opening of our mouths to God in prayer.

There is no call here to go to others for comfort, there is no call to seek support groups of those with similar afflictions, but the first call is to go to God, crying out to Him who is our very present help in trouble.

Now there is nothing wrong in seeking the help of others but the message here is one of priority.

We know that in all things Jesus Christ is to be preeminent.

And that includes preeminence in the hierarchy of those we call upon for help.

He is to be the first, he is to be the primary help.

Now the word afflicted as used here in James, means to suffer hardship.

This Greek word for affliction is used only two other times in the New Testament.

Once in 2 Tim 2:9-10, where Paul says he suffers trouble as an evil doer but in this trouble he endures all things for the elects sake.

The second usage is in 2 Timothy 4:5, where Paul tells Timothy to endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.

We often express inappropriate speech when we face hardships, but James advises no speech to men, but advises prayer to God.

Jesus taught us that in enduring hardships, even the enduring of unjust hardships, you will find that to be acceptable with God.

Peter spoke of this in 1 Peter 2 when he said that:

What did Jesus do in the greatest adversity of adversities?

He committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.

He prayed when evil men put Him on the cross,  Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

The message of James to us is that when adversity or hardship comes our way, we need divine wisdom.

We are to pray to God, knowing He will give it to us without upbraiding or reprimanding us as we were told in the first chapter of James.

Adversity should draw us toward God, and seeking God’s face through prayer should be our first response to our trials.

We may be drawn to complain or seek pity from others but that is not what God desires for in those acts there is no remedy.

Remedy will be found in prayer for in prayer and supplication He will give wisdom, strength, and peace of heart and mind.

Now the last part of Verse 13,  Is any merry? let him sing psalms.

The Greek word for sing is psal’-lo.

The Greek word for psalms is also psal’-lo.

The King James version of the Bible supplies both words in order to show that singing is to take place and that singing is to be composed of psalms.

If we really knew the meaning of the word psalm we wouldn’t need to use both words for we would understand James when he would say: Is any merry, let him psalm.

To psalm means to play or sing a sacred song or hymn.

It means both the use of the voice and/or the use of stringed instruments.

It means the celebration of divine worship with music and accompanying odes or melodies.

Another way to put this: Is anyone glad at heart, let him sing praise to God.

He told the afflicted to pray, he here tells the glad of heart to praise in song.

Prayer is a way of communicating with God but James also sees music as contributing greatly to communicating with God.

Music, psalming if you will, is a wonderful way of expressing what is in the heart.

There is nothing given here that singing or the playing of instruments must be done in groups but James refers to the individual who is merry.

Let him sing psalms in the privacy of his home or with the accompaniment of others who are also merry or glad of heart.

What an encouragement it ought to be to sing from the heart when we sing with others remembering that God hears our singing as much as he hears our prayers.

James has told us to use our tongue to pray for ourselves and to sing praises to God.

He now tells us to use our tongue to pray for others and he brings up a specific time when that is to happen.

Verses 14-15,  Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: ¹⁵And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.

Paul tells us in the epistle to the Galatians that we are to bear one another’s burdens but he also modifies this by saying that we are to bear our own burdens.

The gist of this teaching is that we are to do for ourselves when we are able to do for ourselves, but when that is not possible the members of the body of Christ are to come to our aid.

Our ladies of this church commit themselves to bearing the burdens of those who are sick, those who mourn, those who cannot provide food at particular times and come to their aid by the bringing of food to their home.

James also brings to our attention one who is so sick that it is beyond his or her power to do for him or herself.

This person may not even be able to pray, for the word used here, sick, means to be feeble, to be impotent, to be weak.

I believe this is not talking about someone with a common illness who is capable of seeking the Lord in prayer, but this is one who can hardly do anything for himself but call the elders to his bedside.

James does not say elder but elders are to be called to go to the bedside for elders are to represent the church as if the whole church is involved.

I remember Dr. Hobbs when he was deathly ill telling me how hard it was to pray and to concentrate on spiritual things for the pain was great and the situation was dire.

This is what James is talking about.

He is encouraging intercession for those in such dire straits.

And we are also to note that the elders are called.

Those in such condition or those that are looking after the one who is sick, are not to think that everyone including the Pastor and the elders know of their condition and assume someone will come, but the elders are to be called for.

There may be sin, perhaps even a factor in the illness, which needs to be confessed and the elders are there to help with this need.

James tells the elders to anoint the one who is sick with oil in the name of the Lord; the Greek word used indicating that the oil is olive oil.

I believe the oil was used in times past, believing it to be a healing agent, or it could be looked upon as a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

But it was brought to be a comfort to the one sick.

There is no magic in the oil.

There is no magic in the assembling of the elders.

This is simply the meeting of a need for one in distress who cannot help him or herself and desires intercessory prayer for healing.

It is the assembling of men who are mature in the Lord, who are responsible men who are strong in the faith and also equipped to ask the question, Is there un-confessed sin that needs to be dealt with.

Perhaps this is a time where those who are sick not only want healing of the body but healing of spirit and the soul.

So the elders are there to intercede on behalf of the sick and pray, if it is God’s will, for healing.

There is to be no presumption that God must heal for God may chose not to heal.

James has given us warning about presuming about the future and reminds us to say in our words about future events "If it be God’s will."

There is no reason to assume that the request for healing is outside of this principle.

In every case of healing God always is the healer.

We sometime think that our first responder to our sick condition is our doctor but God is always our first responder when it comes to the healing of what He has created.

God answers prayer, He answers the prayer of the sick, and of those who pray for those who are too sick to pray.

He is the one to whom we are to go.

He has told us to pray for healing of the sick.

That is what we are to do.

Prayer for healing is the planting, it is the watering, but it is God who chooses to give or to not give the increase.