Farseeing through the Fog of Trials

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Psalm 92:1-4
• Hymn — All Praise to Thee, My God, This Night (#158)
• Prayer of Invocation
• Heidelberg Catechism — Questions 80, 81, 82
• Hymn — In Christ There Is No East or West (#414)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Sermon
• Hymn — If Thou but Suffer God to Guide Thee (#474)
• Benediction — Numbers 6:24-26

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Sermon Title: Farseeing through the Fog of Trials

Scripture: James 1:5-8

I. The Wonder of Praying for Wisdom in Trials

A. James connects 1:5 to the preceding verses (1:2-4) through the repeated theme of "lacking"

1. Trials can descend like a dense fog, making it hard to see clearly
2. Wisdom is defined as God-given insight providing perspective to see past trials to their end result — to see history from the divine perspective
3. Doug Moo: wisdom is "that quality needed if God's people are going to endure trials with fortitude and godliness"

B. God's generosity in giving wisdom

1. He is an overflowing, wholehearted giver — not stingy or reluctant
2. The Greek adverb carries the sense of sincerity or wholeheartedness, reflecting God's undivided, single-minded nature
3. This generosity is nowhere clearer than in the gift of his Son (Romans 8:32)

C. God's patience in giving wisdom

1. He gives "without reproach" — he does not mock or find fault with those who ask repeatedly
2. He knows our frame, our inconsistency, fear, and fickleness, and still invites us to ask
3. Jesus confirms this in Matthew 7:7-11: "Ask and it will be given to you… how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him"

D. The giving of wisdom is a process over time, not an instant deposit; ongoing, habitual asking is required

II. The Way to Pray for Wisdom in Trials

A. James's second imperative: ask in faith with no doubting (James 1:6)

1. William Gurnall: "Prayer is the very natural breath of faith"
2. Thomas Manton: "Faith is the fountain of prayer, and prayer should be nothing else but faith exercised"
3. Asking in faith means believing God hears, that he is good, and that he gives what is truly needed

B. What "no doubting" means

1. The Greek word for doubting suggests not primarily intellectual doubt but an inner conflict — a wavering resulting from divided loyalties between God and self or the world
2. Doug Moo: "not so much intellectual doubt as a basic conflict in loyalties"
3. Even strong faith in this life contains mixed doubts; the warning is against a fundamentally divided heart, not momentary weakness

C. The double-minded man (James 1:7-8)

1. Literally a "double-souled" man — one soul that believes and one that does not (Bunyan's "Mr. Facing-Both-Ways")
2. He asks God for wisdom while still trusting inwardly in himself or outwardly in worldly resources
3. James's simile: such a person is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind — unanchored, chaotic, unstable in all his ways

III. The Warning in Praying for Wisdom in Trials

A. The double-minded person must not suppose he will receive anything from the Lord (James 1:7)

1. God, who is himself single-minded and wholehearted, calls his people to ask with sincerity of belief
2. This is a warning against presumption — assuming God is obligated to give regardless of where one's true trust lies

B. God knows what is in a man

1. 1 Chronicles 28:9: "The Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought"
2. We cannot offer divided faith and presume upon his generosity and omniscience

C. The remedy: get roots deep into Christ

1. Hebrews 12:1-2: Run with endurance, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who endured the cross for the joy set before him
2. Jesus himself faced every trial with wisdom given to him by the Spirit
3. Ask God even for more sincere, single-minded faith — he does not hold past double-mindedness against us
4. Matthew Henry: "In asking for divine and heavenly wisdom, we are never likely to prevail if we have not a heart to prize it above rubies"

D. Final exhortation: ask God in faith for wisdom to see through the fog of trials to the glory that is to come, trusting that he will use trials and the testing of faith to produce steadfastness leading to wholeness