James 1:6-8 – “A Visit From Nathan”

As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:

⁶But let him be asking in faith, doubting nothing, for the one doubting is like a surge of [the] sea, driven by [the] wind and tossed; ⁷for let not that man be supposing he will receive anything from the Lord. ⁸[He is] a man double-minded [and] unstable in all the ways of him.

Goodness I am sure enjoying this study. It is always such a blessing to sit and ponder long on a passage of Scripture. Here’s what struck me on this one: James is painting the picture of a man you and I do not want to be – the “double-minded” man, the doubter. As I read a number of commentaries, it seems to me that everyone gathers up their stones and lets fly at “that evil person.” “Bad!” they cry, “Look at that pitiful excuse for a Christian! That, that … doubter!”  My problem is, as I’m reading, I hear Nathan’s still, small voice saying across the ages, “You’re the man.”

I fear it is easy to read this passage and congratulate myself, “I thank Thee, Lord, that I am not as other men, … like this doubter!” James isn’t writing so we might see more clearly the sins of others. He wouldn’t even say these things unless we needed to hear it! And he wouldn’t say these things if it wasn’t an imminent danger for each of us.

Think about it: Here we are, struggling with the many hardships we face, feeling lost and confused, and we read that, if we lack wisdom, we should ask of God … and to further encourage us, he reminds us who our God is – One who gives freely and doesn’t find fault. Then into this beautiful picture, James inserts a warning – something of which to beware that lurks in the darkness of our desperately wicked, deceitful hearts.

I fear if we just cast our stones at the “evil doubter” and move on, we miss whatever it was the Lord was trying to teach us. I want to be sure I see this sin clearly in my own heart – how I do it and when … and have the wisdom to be aware when I am. Goodness, that is an awful warning, “Let not that man think he will receive anything from God.” What a tragedy – we have a God who gives freely, doesn’t find fault, who offers the promise, “If you lack wisdom, ask, and it will be given to you.” …And then to be found in a state of mind where the same God says, “Let not that man think he will receive anything from God.” Yikes!

Please be aware, even as I type, I don’t have any answers. I’m still trying to figure it out myself. You have caught me in process. Once I was studying through the book of I Corinthians and came to the verse, “And who makes you to differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? But, if you received it, why you do you boast as if you did not receive it?” (4:7). My first thought upon reading those words was, “I don’t think I do. I don’t think I ‘boast as if I didn’t receive it.’” But even as those words formed in my heart, I knew they were wrong. He wouldn’t ask it if it wasn’t a problem in my own heart. Then the Lord flooded my memory with a number of times I did exactly that, of so many times I said and did really ugly things because way down deep in my heart I really did believe I was better than everyone else. The realization was so unthinkably ugly, I felt I could die right where I sat. But as I stayed there before the Lord, I came to grips with it, saw the sin for what it was, and I hope, God help me, I repented of that awful evil. I am certainly no better than anyone else. Anything good in my life was a gift from God, just like everyone else. I am not God’s gift to humanity. I hope, having realized that, it makes me a more gentle, more understanding, patient person with others’ faults and weaknesses. As hard as that moment was, I am glad the Lord showed me that sin.

And so I sit here, wanting to say, “I don’t think I’m that doubter,” but, on the other hand, wanting to say, “Lord, show me where I am ‘the man’. No matter how ugly and painful it may be to see myself, I want to rise above it. But I won’t rise above it until I first see it clearly.

I’m going to end this blog here, study some more, and then record what I find in the next one. Nathan knows how to tell a good story. I just want to be sure, like David, I get his point.