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Jonathan Griffiths: I think a common enough experience among those who are going through trial and who are trying to make sense of it is to actually feel rather inadequate or even guilty for not being spiritual enough and not being mature enough to process the situation.

But there's no need to feel hesitant in any way in coming to the Father. He will give the wisdom we need as we ask in faith.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Encounter the Truth with Jonathan Griffiths. I'm Steve Hiller. Glad you joined us today as we continue to look at becoming steadfast and wise in facing the trials of life. And Jonathan, sometimes a trial does hit us so sideways that we don't know what to do. But I hear you saying that when that time comes, the first thing to do is actually to go to the Lord and ask for wisdom.

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, that's the invitation here in James chapter 1. And it's really interesting to kind of see the connections in the text, and the flow of what James is teaching here. He starts out by talking about trials and how we respond to them. And he follows on immediately with a statement which is perhaps one of the better known statements in James. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.

That's the fifth verse of the first chapter. And very often if we know that verse, we don't connect it to what's come before, which is the challenge of trials. But when we think about all that together, we realize actually this makes so much sense because in the midst of trial and difficulty, when something just hits us sideways, as you mentioned, Steve, often the first feeling we have is, I don't know what to do. I have no idea how to navigate this, no idea how to respond to it. And our first need actually is wisdom from above.

And the great promise here in James 1 is that God will give that wisdom if we come to Him in humility. And how often we need to do that.

Guest (Male): Well, we're going to look at this more from the book of James. If you have a Bible handy, join us in chapter 1 as we continue a message called How to Become Steadfast and Wise. Here is Jonathan.

Jonathan Griffiths: To be perfect and complete speaks of reaching a goal, reaching a destination. You think perhaps follow me in this if you can, think of a car on the assembly line in the factory.

From the base of the frame to the structure being built, to the panels going on, to the paint being applied, to the seats being bolted down, to the panels going on, to the transmission and engine being fitted, to the electronics, the controls, the wires, the tubes, the final touches of trim and chrome, and then the car rolling off the line gleaming and finished, a complete product ready for the dealership floor.

You and I, we are works in progress. There's still a fair amount of rough material there, raw material. The maturity, the holiness, the conformity to the likeness of Jesus. These all need to be added, shaped, molded, perfected. We don't roll off the line fully until we reach heaven, until glory.

But all the while, as we travel through this life, there is work happening. We are progressing further on down the line, a little bit further each day. Now in the car plant, if you've ever seen one or visited one, much of the work is done by robots these days. It's very fascinating. It's extraordinary to watch the process.

In our case, no robots involved, but so much of the work is done so often by trial and by difficulty. Those are some of the mechanisms that God uses. That's how the edges of sin and immaturity are often knocked off. It's how the shape of character is so often rounded. It's how the frame of our faith is strengthened and reinforced for the road ahead.

And James says to us, let steadfastness have its full effect. That is, be patiently trusting as the process rolls forward. Don't try and jump off the assembly line and run for the door. Have confidence, the quiet confidence that God is shaping you, moving you forward, making you to be the person He created you to be.

See, that's what God does. That's how He uses the various trials that His people will face. And so says James, when you encounter trial, do that counter-intuitive, strange seeming thing. Do that seemingly impossible thing, count it all joy.

And friends, I'm just so conscious today that so many among us will be facing trials of varying kinds right now. That's where you are. That's that is your present experience. It sums it up very, very well. It's a time of trial. And you look at the situation you're facing right now, and it seems all loss, no gain, all pain, no purpose. And the Lord calls you through James to conduct a faith life audit today.

A life audit where you you take that loss item, and you put it in a different category, in a different column. Not a not a category, not a column marked happiness. Now that would be flippant, but a column marked joy.

Knowing, trusting, believing that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness and leads to spiritual completeness in the end. When you encounter trial, count it all joy. Next, when you encounter trial, ask God for wisdom. Verse 5. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

First glance, it may not be entirely obvious how verse 5 is connected to verse 4. I wonder if you're wondering that yourself. James tends to move from idea to idea pretty quickly, and it can be a challenge to keep up with him sometimes. I think we'll find that throughout the letter. But the thought is actually linked, I believe there is a connection here. You remember that in verse 4, the goal of trial is to become perfect and complete, lacking nothing. We just said that.

But when we go through times of difficulty and trial, suffering, grief, loss, one thing we may feel that we lack is the insight and perspective to make sense of what is actually going on. To put it another way, we might say that we lack wisdom for the occasion. And that that's a common enough experience as believers, and I know this as a pastor. We can hit a wall of suffering where we feel just lost within it for a time. We don't know what to make of it.

Believers who know the Lord and who know His word can still feel totally bewildered when suffering comes. And maybe that that's where you are today. Maybe that is precisely your situation. This thing, this circumstance, this experience. It's it's come into your life and it's tearing through you like a tornado. And you feel everything is upside down and backwards. You don't know how to begin to process, to think about this.

And so says James, in such a situation, when trial comes, you don't know what to do. Verse 5. If any of you lacks wisdom. How do I respond to this? What do I make of it? What is my framework for understanding? What is the road forward? If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach.

God's very character is the one who gives generously. He is a generous God. And when you need a gift that He longs to give to you, there is one thing to do, and one thing only, ask Him, and He will give without reproach. I think a common enough experience among those who are going through trial and who are trying to make sense of it as believers, struggling to know how to think biblically and spiritually about it.

One common enough experience is to actually feel rather inadequate or even guilty for not being spiritual enough, and not being mature enough to process the situation. But there's no need to feel hesitant in any way in coming to the Father. The one who is generous, our Father above, He gives, James says, without reproach. There's no reproach from Him as we ask Him. He will give the wisdom we need as we ask in faith.

There is a condition though, attached to this promise, that God will give the wisdom that's needed. Just notice that with me, verse 6. But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

I had a rather wonderful experience at the passport office this week. If any of you work at the passport office, that's a little shout-out for you. I had to have an official copy of my passport made to file another document. That's another story. But anyway, I was bracing myself for this to be a painful and very drawn-out, time-consuming experience. In fact, I've been putting it off for months because I was quite sure there would end up being a headache.

But this this week anyway, I I went in, having made an appointment, having filled out the form I needed to fill in. I arrived at the office, got my number, waited my turn, handed my paperwork to the agent when my number came up. I noticed on the paperwork that it said there would be a 10-day wait for them to produce the document, but I was really hoping it might be a little quicker. I sort of needed it to be a little quicker than that.

The agent was unusually helpful and kindly, as it happened. He asked if I preferred to have the document mailed out to me or if I would come back for it. I said, look, if there is any way I can come back for this without, you know, booking an appointment or waiting in line for hours, I'd love to do that. But I was thinking to myself, I know what's going to happen here. This is going to be 10 days. I'll then have to wait two days to get a call back to book an appointment. I'll then arrive and have to wait three hours to see someone just to pick up this piece of paper.

I was practically ready to say to him, look, just just say no to me. Put me out of my misery, send me on my way. I get it. It's going to be a long time. I barely got the words out to ask and I was bracing for rejection, of course, and he leaned over to his colleague, had a quiet word with her, and came back to me immediately with a smile and said, look, let us let us work on this now. We will have it ready for you by 2:00 today. When you come back at 2:00, just walk past all the line of all those people waiting there, go to that door, it's going to be waiting for you.

How does that sound? Sorry, what? Excuse me. No appointment, no waiting, no nothing. Are you sure? Did you really mean that? And as I walked away, the thing that struck me was this, the agent actually wanted to be helpful. He wanted to do his best for me, and I I hadn't been anticipating that spirit and that attitude. It took me by surprise, genuinely by surprise.

I think it's possible, isn't it, to approach God in prayer, assuming that He is inclined dispositionally to say no. Inclined to ignore our pleas, inclined to shut the doors of heaven to us. Inclined to leave us out there in the cold. But James says, no, no, no, come to Him in faith. Come to Him not in disbelief. Come to Him in a posture of trust, believing that He is your loving Heavenly Father, who longs to give you good gifts, believing that He is the God of generosity, who will not reproach you for asking Him. Come to Him in faith.

And friends, I can only imagine. I don't know your life situation for many of you. I can only imagine this is a very timely encouragement for a great many of us. If I ask for a little show of hands, I won't do this, but if I ask for a little show of hands of how many among us are facing today some kind of trial, some kind of test for which we desperately need the Lord's wisdom. I think many hands would go up, wouldn't they?

I think many many among us would say, you know, that is precisely my situation today. That is where I'm at, and that is my need. And if that's you, let me just encourage you. Don't assume that God intends to leave you in the dark, that heaven is closed to you. It's so easy to go down that rather dark line in our thinking. No, believe that heaven is open to you, if you're a child of God through faith in Jesus.

Assume, believe that God is ready and willing and able to give you the wisdom you need to navigate the situation that you face, to walk with Him through the darkest trial and to navigate what is yet to come. In fact, any other posture James shows us is a posture of unbelief. To doubt God's willingness and ability to help His children is to be unstable in faith. He says, tossed by the waves of the sea.

And if we come without faith and ask and don't believe, James says, we're double-minded. We're kind of half-believing people. There's almost a dishonesty about it, unstable. If we come to God not trusting that He is able and willing to help, well, we can't expect to receive that help. And so the message is simple, the implication is simple, trust that He's ready, willing, able to help you and come to Him in faith, asking for the wisdom that He is only too ready to give.

Guest (Male): Jonathan Griffiths here on Encounter the Truth, wrapping up our message, How to Become Steadfast and Wise, a look today at the first 11 verses of James chapter 1. And if you missed any part of today's broadcast, or you want to go back and listen again, you can do that at the website, encounterthetruth.org.

Well, Encounter the Truth is listener supported. That's exactly what it sounds like. We're able to be on this station because of your generosity. And as you give a gift of any amount, we want to say thank you by sending you a book called The Final Lap. It's all about navigating the transitions of later life. And Jonathan, who do you think is really going to benefit from reading this book?

Jonathan Griffiths: Well, this book is helping us to think biblically about a number of key transitions in later life. So it helps us think through how to move as believers from the world of work to the world of retirement, then from the time of independency to the time of dependency, and then ultimately from life to death as we approach the finishing line. And for anyone who is in the midst of any of those transitions in those later stages, those later decades of life, I think this book will be pure gold.

There aren't many books actually in the Christian marketplace that help us think biblically about these seasons of life. But we need to be ready for them, and we need to think about them, and we need help to navigate them well. But there will be others who are supporting parents and grandparents, who are perhaps caregivers, who need to have a biblical framework and some real encouragement as well for thinking through these things properly and from a biblical perspective. And John is a trusted teacher, a Christian ethicist, a medical doctor as well. And his wisdom is tremendously helpful. I know many have benefited from his teaching over the years. And I'm just I'm thrilled that this book is available and that we are able to make it available to listeners here on Encounter the Truth.

Guest (Male): Well, the book is called The Final Lap, written by John Wyatt. Our thank you gift to you, as you financially support Encounter the Truth with a gift of any amount this month. You can give online at encounterthetruth.org or when you call 1-833-99 Truth. That's 1-833-998-7884 or encounterthetruth.org. You can also write to us at Encounter the Truth, PO Box 5513, Ottawa, Ontario K2C 3M1, or in the US, at Encounter the Truth, 215 North Arlington Heights Road, Suite 102, Arlington Heights, Illinois 60004. For Jonathan Griffiths and our producer Mark Broda, I'm Steve Hiller. Thanks for listening, and I hope you'll join us next time.