Let him ask

If any of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask of the giving God [Who gives] to everyone liberally and ungrudgingly, without reproaching or faultfinding, and it will be given him. (James 1:5 AMP)

Who is it that gives? God himself. Who is it who asks? Us. What do we ask for? Everything we know or imagine we will need. When do we ask? Usually when we need something. What do we neglect to ask for? Wisdom! Who is wisdom? Jesus. When we ask for wisdom, we are asking for Jesus to become more real to us in the moment, bringing clarity to our situation, and giving us insight we wouldn't have otherwise. It isn't that we are praying for more of Jesus - we already have all of him. We are praying for more evidence of him in our lives.

Let him ask - those words are the crux of the issue. We have not because we ask not (James 4:2). We need to ask for wisdom in life's moments because we don't possess all the wisdom to navigate through them wisely 100% of the time. Sometimes we act in haste, not allowing the wisdom we already possess to help us in the moment. At other times, we wait and wait, hoping for some kind of answer, but we never asked! We just think it will come at some point, but we don't articulate our need for the wisdom we seek. I have said this before - God knows what we need. We seek his wisdom because we need it to help us see what we really need and how he is providing it.

Liberality and graciousness are two hallmarks of God's love. He delights in giving us insight when we seek it. He frequently gives us more than we ask for, doesn't he? He doesn't even think us goofy to have asked, even when we don't quite know what it is we are asking for. He finds no reproach in us asking. He will not find fault when we don't understand something. He delights in us asking, seeking, and knocking. Why? It shows our delight in living within his guidelines or boundaries. We don't ask for wisdom lightly, though. It is to be done with a sincere and committed heart. Why? His answer may not always line up with the way we thought things would go!

I find it kind of humorous that our passage would begin with "If any of you...", because almost all of the time we lack some form of wisdom. We don't know everything any more than we can see everything. We ask because we desire to know. We seek because we desire to find. We knock because we desire what is within. When we ask, we aren't just admitting we don't know, we are revealing a heart that desires to know more than we know right now. Just sayin!