If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. (James 1:5)
A SCARY RATTLING SOUND bumped from beneath the station wagon. With three children, one still in a car seat, I didn’t know what to do. We’d escaped Chicago heat for my in-laws’ cabin in Michigan, leaving my husband behind working. Alone, I waffled. We didn’t have money for expensive car repairs. Probably, I thought, we could make the six-hour drive home. Still, I called my car-smart father. He didn’t judge me for being cheap or decide I was irresponsible as a parent. “You get that car in to the local mechanic. Don’t you dare try to drive home with that rattle.” Turns out he gave me great advice. The tie rod was about one mile away from breaking. The repairman nodded at my three small children. “You’d have been stranded on the highway with them.”
James told us we will be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing, as God shapes us through our life and trials. Then he added, but if you lack wisdom, ask. We just have to be smart enough to know we don’t know! What a relief to know we can ask God, who won’t ridicule us for our lack of wisdom, and won’t blame us. But then we have to trust enough to listen and to apply the wisdom God provides.
We just have to ask. And act.
Prayerfully determine what will you ask, and act on, today.
Jane Rubietta is the author of the deeper devotions Finding Life, Finding the Messiah, and Finding Your Promise (Wesleyan Publishing House). She also loves life, words, the outdoors, and garden-fresh tomatoes.
