Guard Against Being Glib

July 31, 2016

Guard Against Being Glib

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you.

James 1:5a

Outside of the Imperial Cathedral in Speyer, Germany, there is a large sculpture depicting Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. At the top of the sculpture is an angel holding a cup as Jesus prayed, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine” (Matthew 26:39). For me, the sculpture was a reminder of the two most important prayers I want to be front and center in my life.

The first is quite obvious: not my will, but God’s will. The second is the wisdom to know God’s will. The challenge here can be illustrated by remembering the Serenity Prayer. This is the common name for a prayer attributed to theologian Reinhold Niebuhr and made popular by Alcoholics Anonymous. The best-known form is: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

James adds an admonishment to his assertion of God giving us wisdom: “But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone” (James 1:6). That does seem to complicate things a bit. I believe James’ point is that we want to guard against being glib. God is gracious and generous. Our first step in appealing to God’s gracious and generous nature is to realize how utterly dependent we are on His grace. This is why it is good to begin our prayer with remembering to whom we are praying and who it is that is asking. Maybe not always, but certainly with some frequency, we can expect the Spirit to direct our prayers to Psalm 139:

Search me, O God, and know my heart;

    test me and know my anxious thoughts.

Point out anything in me that offends you,

    and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

Psalm 139:23-24

When you pray this way, I am certain you will experience the fulfillment of James’ promise: If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

·        The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.