If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him (James 1:5).
If any of you lack wisdom..." There is no if about it, for we all lack wisdom. What do we really know, after all? Very little indeed. How can we direct our own way? "O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps" (Jer. 10:23). How much less do we know about directing others. Each of us might truly say, "Lord, I excel in ignorance and folly, and wisdom I have none." How often the pompous pronouncements of past ages have become confessions of ignorance in later days!
Even in scientific affairs the Word of God has antedated some fundamental discoveries. For centuries the thinkers proclaimed the earth flat, square, or oblong, while all the time the Bible said that it is a circle, or sphere (Isa. 40:22). For more than a thousand years the best scientific brains declared the earth to be the center of the visible universe, about which moved our sun, the planets, and the stars. The Bible declared that "it is turned as clay to the seal" (Job 38:14). In physical science, archaeology, astronomy, physiology, and other fields of knowledge the Word of God has proved itself ahead of the age in which it was written.
Our text says, "Let him ask of God." That is the only requirement. If we request it, the needed wisdom is ours. Let us pray for it now--wisdom for today's need, for its seeming simplicities and complexities. Let us pray in faith for this liberal education, for the wisdom from above, the wisdom "which God ordained before the world unto our glory: which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor. 2:7, 8).
MEDITATION PRAYER: "Lead me in thy truth, and teach me" (Ps. 25:5).
If any of you lack wisdom..." There is no if about it, for we all lack wisdom. What do we really know, after all? Very little indeed. How can we direct our own way? "O Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps" (Jer. 10:23). How much less do we know about directing others. Each of us might truly say, "Lord, I excel in ignorance and folly, and wisdom I have none." How often the pompous pronouncements of past ages have become confessions of ignorance in later days!
Even in scientific affairs the Word of God has antedated some fundamental discoveries. For centuries the thinkers proclaimed the earth flat, square, or oblong, while all the time the Bible said that it is a circle, or sphere (Isa. 40:22). For more than a thousand years the best scientific brains declared the earth to be the center of the visible universe, about which moved our sun, the planets, and the stars. The Bible declared that "it is turned as clay to the seal" (Job 38:14). In physical science, archaeology, astronomy, physiology, and other fields of knowledge the Word of God has proved itself ahead of the age in which it was written.
Our text says, "Let him ask of God." That is the only requirement. If we request it, the needed wisdom is ours. Let us pray for it now--wisdom for today's need, for its seeming simplicities and complexities. Let us pray in faith for this liberal education, for the wisdom from above, the wisdom "which God ordained before the world unto our glory: which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Cor. 2:7, 8).
MEDITATION PRAYER: "Lead me in thy truth, and teach me" (Ps. 25:5).
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