In the Old Testament, God revealed his will mostly through designated representatives who were filled by the Holy Spirit for a specific time and specific purpose. Moses, Samuel, and Jeremiah are a few.
Today, God promises his Holy Spirit to every believer at the moment they put their trust in Jesus Christ. You just can’t overemphasize the importance of having the Holy Spirit – our Counselor – offering us God’s guidance every moment of every day. We don’t need to try to find some mystical plan that God has hidden from us when we have his wisdom enveloping us at all times.
That’s the advice James gives us in a letter full of practical guidance. He’s writing to Jewish Christians all over the Roman Empire. These are people who have experienced persecution from their families, from the fellow Jews they used to see in synagogue every week, from their neighbors and employers, even from the authorities. They’re not sure how God wants them to respond. And so James gives them the encouragement we saw yesterday: “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
James isn’t talking about some wispy, theoretical wisdom or some deafening voice from heaven. He’s talking about the kind of wisdom that guides you in your everyday life. The kind of wisdom that dictates how you’ll reflect Christ in the hectic stress of the office. How you’ll respond to your precious child after he throws his bottle on the floor for the 10th time. What you’ll do when you’re flipping through TV channels, and there’s a show that catches your eye but is clearly destructive to your soul.
He’s talking about wisdom that will probably be tough to follow. That’s why he says in the next verse, “But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.” In other words, “If you’re not going to act on the wisdom God gives you, then don’t even bother asking. You won’t get it anyway.”
The way we respond to God’s wisdom in the little choices we make every day can have a major effect on the the way he’ll guide us in the big decisions we face. And when the life-changing forks in the road do come, James has some advice for that too.
A few chapters later, he uses the example of businessmen planning a major corporate expansion. He lets us listen in on their boardroom meeting as they say something like, “Tomorrow we’ll fly to San Francisco, spend a year getting the new branch up and running, and then we’re guaranteed to make a killer profit.” Here’s James’ reply:
You do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (James 4)
Is James condemning their plans? No, not exactly. Is he saying it’s useless for us to prepare for the future? No, not really. But when we’re facing big decisions, he’s telling us to make our plans with humility. James isn’t rebuking these businessmen for their actions as much as their attitudes. He’s condemning their arrogance and their self-confident planning that doesn’t recognize God or his sovereignty. “What’s your life?” James says, “You’re a mist!”
When you’re making big plans for the future, use every resource at your disposal. God has given you a chest full of decision-making tools, and we’ll look at them more tomorrow. But above all, acknowledge God’s sovereignty. He has the power to accomplish his will even if you make the wrong decision.