The Book of James, God is God of both the Poor and the Rich, James 1:9-12 - Lesson 4

James 1:5-8 we read,   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. ⁶But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. ⁷For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. ⁸A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

It is not hard to come to the conclusion that I lack wisdom.

In fact the inference of this passage in James 1 is that all lack wisdom but that deficiency in wisdom is no excuse for not having wisdom.

For God graciously invites all those who lack wisdom to come to Him for He will give wisdom to all men liberally.

There is nothing in this passage that encourages the going to any other source but God to find wisdom.

That is what this is all about when James tells us a double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Double minded men have two minds about things.

The wisdom of God is not sufficient for the mind of the double minded, for the double minded man also seeks wisdom from other sources than God.

But God tells the double minded man to not think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

In other words God has so arranged things in his creation that his created beings are to be dependent upon Him.

In fact He is jealous when it is otherwise for to be dependent upon anything other than the Creator does not bring benefit to the creation.

Look around and tell me what created thing is not dependent upon its creator.

There is nothing that is not dependent.

God is glorified when we confess our dependency in all things and His sufficiency in all things.

Satan is at war with this principle for it is his desire to have men and women dependent upon him.

Just look at current events and see the drive to be dependent on our government instead of on our God.

God desires that we have one mind about this and that mind is a dependency upon Him

And according to our passage in James 1 there is to be no room in that mind for wavering in our dependence.

It is not 90% dependency on our part or a recognition that God is 90% sufficient.

God gives wisdom liberally but there is one condition to that liberality.

James sets down only one condition and that is that we pray in faith, without wavering.

Here is where that 90%, 10% thinking comes into play.

The double minded man or woman in praying for wisdom develops an escape plan in case God’s wisdom is too hard to execute.

But God does not play that game for he tells us:   For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. ⁷For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

The message is: Don’t go to the Lord with a wavering heart.

Don’t seek wisdom from the Lord unless you intend to receive that wisdom and act upon it.

Don’t expect to receive wisdom from the Lord if you have an escape plan from the requirements of that wisdom.

Now wavering means to withdraw from or to oppose, to hesitate, to differ.

It is vacillation between one thing and another.

When Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel he asked this question.

How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.

Jesus said, He that is not with me is against me;

Jesus also said to the church of the Laodiceans:  I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. ¹⁶So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth

Both Elijah and Jesus Christ preached single mindedness.

Single mindedness is being 100% with God and not having an "out" to not do what God’s wisdom dictates.

God has given us His written word.

It is the answer to all our requests for wisdom.

James warns us to only ask God for wisdom if and only if we intend to obey God’s answer from His word.

Now if you go to God without that intention but have other sources in mind to weigh God’s wisdom against, God tells you you are double minded, which literally means two spirited.

It means you are like the Prophets of Baal who halted between two opinions.

James is the only Bible writer to use this description of the faithless person.

He uses it again in James 4:6-10:

Here, in the use of the description, double minded, James is talking about pride and humility.

Throughout the Bible and in this passage we learn that God opposes the proud, but He gives grace to the humble.

The humble submit themselves to God and in so doing they resist the devil.

To be humble is to admit your insufficiency and God’s sufficiency.

Those who have an escape plan believe they are sufficient and God is insufficient.

But those that humble themselves before the Lord, He will lift them up.

So the double minded are described as those who waver between humility and pride.

The double minded are those who waver between submitting to God or submitting to the devil.

So it seems the message of James in the first chapter is that there is a choice that one must make between drawing near to God in adversity or arrogantly going one’s own way, which is Satan’s way.

We should therefore understand that James is telling us that we ought not ask God for wisdom unless we are also willing to follow the wisdom He provides.

When Jesus told the disciples to not cast their pearls before swine he meant don’t give wisdom to those who will not use it.

And it is very clear that this is what God means here in James when He says, let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

How often I believe this instability, this double mindedness, is expressed.

Parents pray for guidance in the rearing of children but when that guidance is given from God’s word they don’t use the guidance, but instead modify the guidance or perhaps fall back on tradition or other sources.

Young people pray about marrying but go ahead against the wisdom of the book and in so doing show their double-mindedness.

We pray for God’s will but if we see the carrying out of that will as too difficult, we waver to some other source than God’s word.

So James tells us that faith is revealed by stability, steadfastness in the middle of life’s trials.

And on the contrary an insufficiency of faith is revealed in instability.

The faithless move about like the waves of the sea never grounded in obedience to the pure word of God

Faith rests on the fact that God is in control and that adversity comes from a loving father’s hand and is always for our betterment.

Adversity comes from a perfect father who desires to build his children up in His strength, predestinating us to be conformed to the image of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Faith then brings God’s children to count it all joy when adversity comes, because it is for our good, and for His glory.

Now moving on to James 1:9-12,  Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: ¹⁰But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away. ¹¹For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways. ¹²Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

This is an interesting passage in that both poor and rich brothers are addressed.

Remember they both are members of that group of Jews that James describes as scattered abroad.

These thoughts are to be considered while each group is undergoing adversity.

The poor are not only poor but they are undergoing adversity.

The rich are not kept from adversity but there is a reminder here that riches are fleeting and are not to be used to find comfort during adversity.

Whenever I read this passage in James I am reminded of the hymn:

"IMMORTAL, INVISIBLE, GOD ONLY WISE" which contains these lines:

This hymn points all, both great and small, both rich and poor to the immortal, invisible, God only wise.

There is a challenge to all to take your eyes off of the adversities of this life and think of where the immortal, invisible, God only wise, is bringing you.

Both the rich and the poor who are now scattered abroad are suffering regardless of their wealth or lack of wealth.

The poor and the rich now share the same condition and it is here that James wants both the rich and the poor to see their circumstances from an eternal perspective.

Both rich and poor are to respond to their circumstances in a godly manner.

Both the rich and the poor believers are to think eternally and not consider their present condition more importantly than they should for both conditions are of a temporary nature and will soon pass.

He says the brother of low degree should rejoice for he will be exalted.

In other words live a life of joy even though you are poor for that condition is short in comparison with eternity where the poor will be exalted.

Jesus said the same thing in Luke 6:20,   Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.

This message from Jesus was played out in the life of Lazarus, the beggar, who the last time we visited him was found at Abraham’s bosom.

From God’s perspective threescore and ten years of being poor is nothing compared to an eternity of bliss with our Savior.

So the poor man is to rejoice in that he is exalted but James tells the rich man to also rejoice in that he is made low.

In other words the rich brother should boast in his humiliation

because "like the flower of the grass he will pass away."

James sees the wealth of the rich as that which brings temptation to trust in one’s wealth.

The disposal of that wealth, the humiliation in the loss of that wealth brings freedom to trust in God fully.

Riches are temporary and all fade away.

Riches, many times get in the way of what God has to offer and become a barrier to union with God.

The rich have a certain attitude in life and much of that attitude comes with having all needs met by self sufficiency.

But in the end, through the rich man’s trials, it becomes clear that God is the real and only life-giver, not riches.

What a deliverance to the mind that can be!

What a conclusion to reach, for self sufficiency blinds the eye and the heart from a realization that every man, woman, boy or girl needs God.

So James sees the adversity that both the poor and the rich are subject to, as great times in which to rejoice for in those times they are able to see the works of the Lord.

James wants both poor and rich brothers to grasp that God will be God to all in the middle of whatever circumstance in which they find themselves.

There is no pit so low that God's presence can’t reach.

He does not allow his children to go through anything that He cannot use to bring us to a fullness in Him that is beyond our thinking.

I Corinthians 10:13,  There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

But during those times He expects 100% trust with no plan to run from his wisdom.