It’s a privilege to be surrounded by people who have so much love for God and His Word. I was with some of them recently and one of them shared a familiar verse of scripture found in the letter by James.
He writes about godly wisdom as opposed to worldly wisdom. Then he turns that into an inquest into why his audience are in the bad state that they’re in. The inquest reveals that there are unresolved passions at war. These passions are evidently at odds with what godly wisdom looks for. At the heart of that is something that James says which in itself highlights just how bad the situation is. The people don’t get because they don’t ask.
He will go onto say that even if they did ask, their motives were just so wrong. It’s a mess all over the place and the people are suffering for it. Suffering big time.
There was the arresting thought, however, as to why wouldn’t the children of God, just ask their Father for what they needed? Why don’t you just ask? It sounds so simple and then I remembered aspects of the broken human condition. To ask is to acknowledge that only someone else can give us what is required. It is to put ourselves, to some degree, at the mercy of someone else. It is, to a degree, to say that my needs can only be met by someone else and so I have to humble myself to them.
That gets a little galling especially in a day and an age where I shouldn’t really have to ask for anything. I should have the means and the capability to just get it myself. I want it – I should just be able to get it. In fact I deserve it so I should get it because I’m entitled to it and after all because I’m worth it. There should be no need to degrade myself by asking for it.
No wonder we’re in a mess when this mind-set, overtly or subtly, informs our way of operating. It’s good to put things back in their proper perspective. It’s good to be reminded of the beauty of humility. The real value of just seeing once more that without our heavenly Father we are nothing. Anything we have and are is because of Him and so it pays to humble ourselves, check our motives and for whatever we need go to the Father and ask. Ask in the knowledge that the good Father will not withhold anything needed for His children because He’s a good Father. Ask in humility in the belief that this request is not for our own self-gratification, but can go someway to being a blessing to others.
My concern sometimes is that the attitude of ingratitude is the set up for an ugly outcome. And when it happens it won’t be pretty for us, funnily enough because our behaviour and beliefs suggested we had it coming to us.
We were asking for it.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
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