Sunday, June 01, 2014,
5:47 a.m. – the Lord Jesus put the song in mind, “WAIT!” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read James 4:1-10 (NIV84).
Ask God
“What causes fights and quarrels
among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want
something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you
want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When
you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may
spend what you get on your pleasures.
This morning the
Lord Jesus put the song in mind, “WAIT!” (The lyrics quoted below). As I
thought about these words in relation to this passage of scripture, I came to an
understanding of this passage of scripture, perhaps with a little broader
meaning.
In other words,
sometimes we get impatient with God, we don’t wait on his perfect timing, and
thus we get anxious and try to make things work ourselves, which then can lead
to fights and quarrels. What this means is that we lack trust in God and in his
sovereignty and in his perfect plan and purposes for our lives, so we run ahead
of God, thinking that if we don’t make it work ourselves that something bad
will happen, when usually just the opposite is true. We end up listening to
Satan’s lies which tell us if we don’t do it, it is not going to happen, and
then we will be left without resources, and then this or that might happen to
us. Yet, for those of us who are truly the Lord’s, he will not leave us, he is
completely faithful in all he does, and if we just rest in him, he will show us
the way.
Yet, when we listen
to lies, instead of truth, and we begin to get anxious about our circumstances,
we get tense, and sometimes irritable, which can then lead to fights and
quarrels. The antidote for all of this is to wait on the Lord, to be of
courage, to sing praises to his name, and to thank him for his many blessings
to us. We need to believe he is completely sovereign over our lives and that he
knows what he is doing. He has a plan and a purpose for everything that comes
into our lives. So, we need to just trust him to show us what to do, and then
we need to follow his plan instead of jumping ahead with our own plans. We need
to believe that God is not far removed from what we are going through, but he
is always watching over us. So we just need to trust him and obey what he says.
Yet, in context
here, there is a much more serious situation than just losing patience with God
and thus taking matters into our own hands, or perhaps I should say the
situation here describes another possible way in which we might respond in lack
of faith and trust in God. In this case, these believers in Christ wanted their
own way, i.e. they wanted what they wanted. In other words, they were behaving
selfishly. In fact, their selfishness and covetousness was so grave that it led
them to murdering (or hating, misusing and stepping on or over) others just to
get what they wanted. Wow! Not only did they not ask God for what they wanted,
but even if they did ask, they had the wrong motivation, because they were just
looking to satisfy their own selfish desires for worldly pleasures.
Adulterous People
You adulterous people, don’t you
know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to
be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture
says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely?
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
“God opposes the proud but gives
grace to the humble.”
When we accept
Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives, he becomes our husband, and we
become his bride. Our faith in him is a promise to love, honor and obey him, as
well as it is a commitment to be faithful to him as our only husband,
spiritually speaking. So, when we choose to follow after “other lovers,” i.e. after
the trappings, things and sinful pleasures this world has to offer us, we, in
essence, are committing adultery against our Lord and husband. His grace
teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions and desires, and to
live upright and godly lives in this present age (See Tit. 2:11-14). It does
not free us to do whatever we want, as some have come to believe. Faith in
Jesus Christ means death to sin and self, transformation of heart and mind away
from sin and to God, and it means to have and live a new life in Christ,
created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (See Eph. 4:17-4; cf.
2 Co. 5:15; Ro. 6-8; 1 Jn. 1-5; Ac. 26:16-18; and Gal. 2:20).
Submit to God
Submit yourselves, then, to God.
Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come
near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you
double-minded. Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and
your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.
So, instead of
fighting for what we want, and getting angry or afraid when we don’t get it, and
thus taking matters into our own hands; and/or instead of asking God to meet
our selfish desires, and for him to put his blessings upon our worldly
associations and fellowships, we are to submit (surrender; yield) to God and to
what he wants, and to what he desires for our lives. We can only know what he
wants, though, through submission to him, and through spending much time with
him in listening to what he has to say to us through his word, and then by
doing what he shows us. We must also resist the devil. We do this through
throwing off all hindrances to our walks of faith and any sins that so easily
entangle us so we can run with perseverance the race marked out for us (See
Heb. 12:1).
In other words, it
is impossible for us to draw near to God and to submit ourselves to him in
surrender to his will for our lives if we are toying with sin and we have one
foot in the world and one in heaven. We can’t even begin to hear God and to
know his will for our lives if we are entrenched in the pleasures, thinking,
values and philosophies of this sinful world. The one cancels out the other. We
can’t expect to live holy lives pleasing to God if we are willfully taking into
our eyes, minds and hearts what is sinful and of the devil, and for our own selfish
pleasure. We cannot allow ourselves to be entertained by what is sinful and
ungodly and expect to walk in fellowship with God. We have to resist the devil
by refusing to be entertained by or to participate in what is sinful and worldly
and is in direct contradiction to the word of truth so that we can hear our
Lord’s voice, and so we can follow him.
Wait! / An
Original Work / February 8, 2014
Wait for your Lord. Be
of courage.
Be strong, and take
heart today.
God is always watching
o’er you.
Trust Him with your
life always.
Sing of your Lord.
Praise His blessings.
Believe in His
sovereignty.
He delivered you from
your sin;
Gave you life
eternally.
Rest in your Lord.
Know His promise.
Beneath His wings rest
secure.
Your God has a plan
and purpose.
Let your faith in Him
endure.
Trust in your Lord.
He’ll not leave you,
Because He is
faithfulness.
He will lead and
guide; protect you.
In His love you can
find rest.
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