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Sometimes trials can shake your very life, even your whole family, to the core. Jerry Thacker was at Bob Jones University when I was there in the mid 70’s. I didn’t know him personally, but I remember that he taught marital arts to willing students. Some years later I read about the trial that crashed into the Thacker family. In 1984 Jerry’s wife, Sue, was given four units of blood following a C-section. Two years later Jerry participated in a church blood drive and the following Saturday he received a call. The doctor who ran the blood bank informed him that his blood was tainted with the HIV or AIDS virus, which was deadly stuff back then.
The AIDS virus is transmitted through bodily fluids. Jerry had never participated in any behavior that would expose him to anyone else’s body fluids except his wife. He had been faithful to his wife, he had never done drugs or shared needles, and he never lived a homosexual lifestyle. As it turns out, his wife had been infected through those units of blood she received two years earlier, and so was their daughter, apparently through breast-feeding. Then again during the 1995 Thanksgiving weekend, their family experienced trauma when their 16 year-old son Jared died within 36 hours of his first symptoms of meningitis.
To say the Thackers needed God’s wisdom to handle these trials is an understatement. Jerry was interviewed recently on the Stand in the Gap Today radio program. Here are his words: “The main thing that kept me going during that time was the fact that I knew that God was sovereign, and that there was not a hair from our heads that could fall out, that he wouldn’t know it. There was not a virus in our body that he wouldn’t know it. It was knowing that God was in charge that really helped us get through it.”
God gave them the wisdom to handle these trials and over the years God has used Jerry to spread the gospel and speak in many countries around the world. He reminds people, “We’re all terminal, we’re all going to die. The really important question is, what’s next? Do you know Jesus Christ as your personal Savior? Have you repented of your sin? Asked him to come into your heart and save you, and then gone on to live for him in your life?”
Now we come to our text and ask this question. How do you handle your trials, regardless of their nature, whether it’s being fired from your job or seeing a loved one die in their youth? We can hear the angry curses of the world when bad things come their way. The one thing we all need is God’s wisdom to face and deal with our trials in ways that glorify God. Like all believers, Jerry Thacker recognized the sovereignty of God in his life and that nothing happens by accident. God’s hand is in every trial, big or small. John MacArthur describes James 1:5 as “surely one of the most beautiful and encouraging promises in all of Scripture.”
YOU NEED GOD’S WISDOM FOR YOUR TRIALS – vs. 5
James 1:5, But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
How often I’ve prayed this prayer. “Lord, I need your wisdom to prepare this sermon.” Perhaps someone has poured out their case to you and you’re thinking, “I have no idea what you should do!” I think we would all agree that we need God’s wisdom for life in this fallen world.
GOD’S WISDOM
What is this wisdom James is talking about? Wisdom is God’s truth applied to life. Knowledge is like having all the parts of your engine lying on the garage floor. Wisdom knows how to put them all together so that the engine actually starts. Wisdom is that God-given skill of knowing how to apply God’s truth to the specific issue you are facing right now.
Job looked for wisdom and where did he find it? Job 28:28, God declares, “Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom.” The number one heart quality of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. What is the fear of the Lord? Knowing that God is sovereign, loving, powerful, holy and in complete control of your life and deserving your willing and joyful obedience.
Proverbs 2 tells us how to find God’s wisdom. A wise person receives the Word. He prays over the Word, seeks answers in the Word, and searches the Word like looking for hidden treasures.
Proverbs 2:5-6, Then you will discern the fear of the LORD And discover the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
Wisdom doesn’t just happen. Wisdom comes through the fear of the Lord as we humbly submit ourselves to His Word. You need to build up a reservoir of wisdom in your heart as you spend time reading and praying and meditating on God’s Word.
THE GIVING GOD
God is ready to give you wisdom for your trial. He’s the giving God. He has plenty and He wants you, His child, to have it. Every parent wants their children to be wise in handling life. God is the one who ordained the trials that you encounter, and He is the One who can give you the wisdom to handle them with the right goal of growing and changing to please Him.
And you can’t ask Him too often. He gives generously and without getting all upset when you keep coming back. Puritan Thomas Manton says, “He does not twit us.” “Oh no, not you again. What do you want this time?” No, “ask” is a present tense imperative meaning let him keep asking. Sometimes parents scold, “How many times do I have to tell you….” Not God. He won’t fault you for persistent asking. Remember how often Abraham came back to God asking for mercy for Sodom and Gomorrah? He asked God not to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if there were 50 righteous people there. 45? 30? How about 10? God didn’t scold Abraham for repeating his request, narrowing it down to 10 righteous people. You may wonder what God would have done if Abraham asked for 5 people, or even 1 – his nephew Lot.
We need God’s wisdom for our trials. Sometimes it’s simple: pay off the bill, ask forgiveness, return good for evil, accept arthritis as part of God’s plan (a trial of aging). Other trials are complicated and we don’t know what to do. Sometimes God uses other people to remind us of God’s wisdom and you respond, “You know, I knew God was sovereign and ordains everything that comes into my life, but I just needed to be reminded.”
Turn to 2 Chronicles 20, a great Old Testament story. The Moabites, Ammonites, and the Meunites, a huge multitude of enemies, was coming to make war against Judah and King Jehoshaphat. He was afraid and turned his attention to seek the Lord. That’s one of God’s purposes in trials. Trials should drive us to God. All Judah came to seek help from the Lord. Jehoshaphat prayed, exalting God’s sovereignty and power. “We are powerless and don’t know what to do, but our eyes are on you” (vs. 12) Verse 13 is beautiful: “All Judah was standing before the Lord, with their infants, their wives and their children.” God gave them wisdom through a Levite. “Don’t fear or be dismayed. The battle is not yours but God’s. Just go out there and face them. The Lord is with you” (vss. 14-17). Jehoshaphat declared, “Put your trust in the Lord your God and you will be established” (vs. 20). God took care of those enemies. While Judah marched into battle singing praises to God, the enemy began attacking each other and “behold, they were corpses on the ground and no one had escaped” (vs. 24).
Sometimes you have to stop and ask, “What are my options here?” Some ways of handling the trial are out of bounds. You can’t please God by returning evil for evil, or lying to get out of the situation, or reacting with bitterness or resentment or gossiping and slandering the people involved. You can’t pick up a fifth of whiskey and drink your trial away.
What ways are in bounds? Know God is in this trial; there are no accidents. Trust God from your heart, knowing He is sovereign and ordains every moment, and every trial of your life. Respond with a soft answer and good for evil. Look for opportunities to share the gospel. That’s how Jerry Thacker responded. He’s gone around the world speaking to people about the dangers of risky behavior like homosexuality and drug use. If you find yourself in the hospital, God’s wisdom is to be patient, to wait on Him, to maintain a joyful, hopeful spirit, and to have fun teasing the nurses. (God bless those nurses!).
“If anyone lacks wisdom.” The world’s wisdom will never give you the goal of pleasing God in the trial. You need God’s wisdom and He’s got an infinite amount of it. We need to ask Him for it, over and over. But there is a condition…
YOU NEED TO BE FIRMLY COMMITTED TO DOING WHATEVER GOD’S WISDOM SAYS – vss. 6-8
James 1:6-8, But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, 8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
THE DOUBTER
Asking in faith means you are totally committed to following God’s wisdom and obeying it, even if it isn’t easy. The doubter asks for wisdom conditionally, as an option. “If I like what the Bible says, I’ll follow it. But if not, I’m going to look for answers somewhere else.” If you just want answers that make life easier for you or just to turn the heat down or to get out of the trial in any way possible, forget it. You are not getting wisdom from God. A doubter isn’t convinced he wants to go God’s way exclusively. He doesn’t believe God knows best.
Undoubting faith means radical commitment to listening and following God. If God wants you to pluck out an eye or cut off a foot to deal with the trial, you’re willing to do it (that’s figurative, of course). But if you aren’t sure you really want to flat out go with God and His Word in this situation, you are a doubter. You’ll be tossed around like the surf driven by the wind, first surging one way, then the opposite way, with no firm anchored convictions. You’ll go from one thing to another, looking for that silver bullet.
Remember Naaman the leper. He came to the prophet Elisha with his own ideas of the solution to his trial. He expected the prophet to come out and meet him and say some mumbo jumbo and presto, he’d be healed! Many people are just like that, wanting a shazam moment to make everything better. Give me a secret key to make my life happier. Change my circumstances and take those nasty people out of my life. But they aren’t willing to go to Christ, submit to Him, and find Him to be their all in all.
DOUBLE-MINDED
James calls this doubter a double-minded man, or literally, a “two-souled man.” Verses 7-8 are strong. God gives His gifts lavishly, but not to those who are trying to play both the world and God. “OK, I’ll try God and see if He works.” You don’t come to God to see if He can help you out of a hard circumstance. You come to God because He is God.
The double-minded man has two minds, like two steering wheels. His feet are in two canoes. He’s like the Roman god Janus, who had two faces looking in opposite directions. John Bunyan called him “Mr. Facing-Both-Ways.” He’s the man who wanted everlasting life but he loved money more than God. You can’t serve two masters. He’s the people Elijah challenged on Mt. Carmel. In 1 Kings 18:21 Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him a word. James says the double-minded man is unstable in all his ways, wobbling, unsure, no anchored convictions. He’s like a squirrel I recently saw on the road in front of me. He was unstable, darting back and forth, quickly scurrying this way, then back, then back again, uncertain which way he should go to avoid danger and death.
SO WHAT?
So what is James saying here? He’s calling for a radical commitment to Christ, not a half-hearted jellyfish faith that wavers when God brings hard trials. God has the richest storehouse of wisdom for every single trial in your life. Often His wisdom is to be patient and endure it with joy. Don’t run away. Don’t get bitter or go looking for answers from a God-hating world. Only God is the One with a rich storehouse of wisdom. And remember this – God is more interested in changing you than He is in changing your circumstances. He wants you to increase your love for Him and your trust in Him. Will you ask God in faith to make you a person with a full commitment to loving and pleasing Him so you’ll have His wisdom? David prayed in Psalm 86:11, “Unite my heart to fear your name.”
Maybe God sent that trial into your life to make you aware of your need of Christ as your Lord and Savior. God is listening. Repent and turn in faith to Christ who came to save sinners. Like that prodigal son, let your trial drive you back to the Father so you can go to Him for wisdom.
Are your trials drawing you closer to God?
Are your trials making you aware of how weak and empty you are and how strong and sufficient God is?
Are your trials bringing godly change into your life, more love, more joy, more peace, more like Christ?
Do you need wisdom? Ask God. He’ll give it. And you can’t ask Him too often.