We need a certainty to our faith.
On Sunday Anne and I went to the seaside on N.Ireland’s north coast and parked the car on the beach/strand. The waves were large and beautiful and we later saw surfers in wetsuits for our cold seas, along different parts of the coast. Anne especially enjoys the sea, but was tired after a busy period with guests in our home and she’d been resisting a cold.
I noticed a young woman driving her car along the beach and later parked nearby. She had a sore back and her friend had a surgical boot fitted to her foot. Longed to go and ask her if we could pray for her back, but didn’t on this occasion.
James 1 is addressed to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations, no longer just Jewish believers living in Jerusalem. The church had moved out into the world, maybe for business reasons or from persecution, but they had moved into the wider Mediterranean area. So James, the half brother of Jesus, is speaking to these Jewish believers out in the Gentile, Roman world. A very different life situation from the confines of the religious life in Jerusalem.
James tells them, “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all …… But 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 double-minded, unstable in all he does”.
The sea was magnificent on the northern coast but water is terribly unstable. James is telling us we need a certainty to our faith, then we’ll get the answers to our requests.
May you be built up and blessed in your faith today.