Exhortation

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God . . . and it will be given to him,” James says in today’s sermon text. James is alluding to the story of Solomon asking for wisdom to judge the vast nation of Israel. According to James, we can all be Solomons. We can all be kings and priests by the Spirit of wisdom, and all we have to do is ask.

But notice where James begins: “If anyone lacks wisdom.” This is where Solomon begins too: “I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in,” Solomon says when Yahweh appears to him.

Here is an essential difference between the wisdom from above and the demonic wisdom from below. Earthly wisdom is self-sufficient, arrogant, proud. When we act as if we have all the wisdom we need, we can only reproduce the selfishness, grasping ambition, and chaos of hell.

Godly wisdom doesn’t begin in fullness, but in emptiness. As James says later in his letter, God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. If we want wisdom to rule, we must first humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, confessing our sins and acknowledging our weakness. We are exalted as kings when we lower ourselves. The first step to wisdom is to admit our folly.