Being carried by the surf

Have you ever been to the beach and as you walked along the shore line picked up sea shells.  Our family loves to go to Edisto Beach in South Carolina.  It is quite and not filled with all the tourist attractions.  One of my favorite parts of this beach is that it is truly filled with sea shells.  My girls collected a bucket full in just a couple of days.  They ended up collecting more than I was willing to bring home.  As we collected them some were very beat up and broken.  You could tell that their journey to the beach was not an easy one at all but full of many storms and obstacles.  Then there were a couple that you would have thought were gently placed on the beach because there were no imperfections and they were in beautiful condition.  Yet, it was apparent that both shells came to the beach via the same method, being carried in by the surf.

As I read through my James passage this morning I thought of these shells we collected at the beach. In the first passage James 1:2-3, we were told to consider it all joy or a sheer gift when trials come because it produces endurance and out of that endurance the Lord produces His perfect result.  However, in the next section that I read today it started out really encouraging, but had a stipulation on the request.

 " But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

James 1:5-8 (NASB)

As I read the phrase, "...when you ask, you must believe and not doubt..."  I began to wonder if that was possible for me.  I am a worrier and I tend to worry and doubt things that are really pressing in on me.  The thought of the God of the universe desiring to give me wisdom was encouraging and overwhelming at the same time, but when you are to do it without doubt I began to wonder if it was possible for me.  So I decided to look at this passage from another perspective so I read it in the Message version.  What I like about the Message is it is written in what we call everyday language.  For me it is not a version I would study on it's own but I like to use it along side other versions to allow the Lord to stretch my thinking and perspective.

"5-8 If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it. Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought. People who “worry their prayers” are like wind-whipped waves. Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open."

James 1:5-8

I loved the phrase "people who worry their prayers" because as I read it I felt like it has described me at times.  The other part of this version that jumped out at me was the last phrase "adrift at sea, keeping all your options open."  How often in life do we let the things of this world, opinions and culture influence us to a point where we are like that broken sea shell being tossed back and forth, banging against things as we strive to make it though our current storm.  It is so easy to allow the world to influence our spiritual walk, however we can guard against this by doing several things.

• We can guard against the world's influence by being grounded in scripture and spending time in the Word each day.  Hiding these verses in our hearts so that when we are being tossed around or are unsure we have the ability to speak the truth and there is such power in speaking scripture.
• We can guard against this by limiting the world's influences on our lives.  We need to make sure the spiritual teaching we sit under is Bible based.  It is real easy to get caught up in listening to ministers who tell us what we want to hear, instead of what we need to hear.  It is important that anything you impress on your heart has been measured by the Bible to make sure it is grounded in the Lord's teaching and not the world's.
• We can guard against this by making sure we are putting on our daily armor.  "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. ..." Ephesians 6:10-12 (NASB)  In this passage it reminds us that we need to be ready for struggles and prepared to battle against the influences of this world.  You can read about the entire armor of God in Ephesians 6:10-18.

The last phrase of the Message version makes me think about how religion today has become like a buffet.  People take what they like and toss out the rest.  The Lord wants our hearts and minds completely committed to Him.  To me that is what the verse is talking about when we ask God for wisdom and not doubt, it is not being unsure but knowing that in our state of not knowing acknowledging that the Lord is the one with the answers.  We are not expected to be perfect but God does not want to share our hearts with the world and it's teachings.  If we live our lives worshiping God until we think something better will come along then we are that double minded person who is unstable in their thoughts and beliefs.

I don't want to live my life looking for the next best thing to come along.  My salvation through Jesus Christ is the best thing to ever happen in my life and I want to live my life allowing the Lord to teach, encourage, stretch and minister to me as I strive to manage to storms that come in my life.  Below I have added a video of one of my favorite songs and to me it is a wonderful picture of if we place all we have in Jesus as James is talking about here the Lord will give us wisdom and endurance as the manage the storms of life.