Two examples come to mind for James, by which to illustrate the spiritual dynamics of trials. First, what if you lack wisdom? This is an important example to James, for he will return to the theme of wisdom in 3:13-18. It is also fitting as a first example, because it is of such urgent importance for Christians in trials. Isn't this the cry in the heart of ones who are suffering? "I don't know what to do!" 2 Chronicles 20:12 in its context illustrates well this cry for wisdom from people facing trials. James's pastoral concern takes him directly to this pressing need in his readers' lives.

It is worth taking time to identify with that need ourselves, so that we catch the significance of James's answer, for we experience the same disabling effects that James's original readers must have been experiencing.

1. Guilt. I remember an agonizing time of division in our church. I struggled with self-blame. "If only I had said this . . . or done that . . . or acted differently." I kept wondering what to do. I needed wisdom desperately.

2. Confusion. Suffering easily pushes us into the confusion of self-doubt, in which we question our actions, motives and capabilities. Such self-doubt can be devastating, for example, for parents who lose a child in a tragedy or find their child alienated in rebellion. "Why did this happen to me? Where did I go wrong? Is God punishing me? Does God love me?" We don't know what to do in the midst of that intense internal questioning, and our need for wisdom is urgent.

3. Fear. Suffering awakens the fear that things are out of control and that whatever we hold dear might be lost. As a result, people commonly withdraw to protect what they still have. This is, in part, why a wife or child may keep submitting to an abusive home situation; there is the fear that the abuse will get worse. "Maybe, if I submit, my abuser will stop." In the midst of a trial, the fear can be absolutely crippling, so that you do not know what to do. You need wisdom.

4. Anger. Trials can produce a great deal of anger, but intense anger often receives insufficient satisfaction. Yet the intensity of anger cannot be sustained. When the anger subsides without being resolved, it is replaced by hopelessness. That is why counselors often regard depression as the other side of anger. The result is a loss of motivation and, again, an inability to know what to do. If you are angry or depressed because of trials, you need wisdom to get your life going again as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ.

James is concerned to address one central need from which the other needs in these complex situations can be unraveled. In the face of such trials, what shall the "servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" do? He should ask God for the wisdom that is lacking. This is not to dismiss the problems with a simplistic solution, but it is to face the problems with the root solution. Again the Sermon on the Mount appears as a possible basis for James's message: "Ask and it will be given to you" (Mt 7:7).

Stop and take note of what James prescribes here; it is foundational for an accurate grasp of the whole letter. For those who would portray James as simply a teacher of law, it is important to see this: by instructing his readers to ask for wisdom, James is pointing them to God's grace. This is one example of what underlies the whole epistle—James's confidence in the grace of God and his intense desire for his readers to place their own reliance there. Overlooking this, and taking 2:14-26 out of this context, some have failed to teach James redemptively.

James then leads his readers into God's grace by calling attention to four facets. As they come in the Greek word order, first God is one who "is giving." The word is didontos, a present active participle; it is God's constant nature to be gracious and giving. Second, God gives to all (pasin). The call to live by faith is extended to everyone, and no one is left without an invitation to trust in God. Third, God gives generously (haplos), emphasizing that God gives freely and without reserve. Fourth, God gives without finding fault, or without reproaching.

You may ask God for the wisdom you need without fear, for God gives without holding your failures or lack of wisdom against you. This is the assurance with which the Christian approaches God, that God is not a harsh Father who responds to our needs by reminding us of our faults. Christ has made atonement for our sin; we receive justification by responding with faith, not by trying with good deeds to become righteous enough to deserve God's favor. This salvation by grace, the very heart of the gospel of Christ, will certainly not be contradicted by God when we come to him for wisdom. God responds to his own people with grace—his undivided, unwavering intent always to give good gifts.

Believe this love from God, James continues in 1:6, and do not doubt it, for the doubt is instability. There are certain distortions of this teaching common today which should be recognized. The first distortion occurs within what is popularly known as the "name it and claim it" philosophy, when Christians are taught that they should name whatever they need in faith and so claim it as given to them. The dangers are the misplacing of faith and the raising of unbiblical expectations. Christians are sometimes led, in effect, to place their faith in the force of their own believing, and then to expect freedom from hardship or deprivation. What James is prescribing is something quite different: faith in the grace of God, which enables faith to be exercised even within hardship and deprivation.

A further distortion of the biblical teaching occurs when Christians treat James's warning against doubt (and the similar teaching by Jesus in Mt 21:21) superficially, taking it to require a willful suppression of mental doubts. This can become an unrecognized attempt to manipulate God by one's own power of positive thinking. The error has left many in bondage to fear, afraid of their own thoughts and afraid of the God who might hold their doubts against them and therefore not grant the wisdom needed. The result is a crippling of people's faith and a perversion of the very truth James is teaching: that God gives freely, without finding fault.

James certainly does place doubt in immediate contrast to believe (or, literally, in contrast to the noun faith) in 1:6. But James is writing about something much deeper than surface thoughts. The actual point of his warning about doubt is to expose a basic soul-condition of unbelief. That basic soul-condition is described with the term double-minded in 1:8. It means a double-souled person, a person whose heart's loyalties are divided, a person who has not decided to give his or her love to God. The doubt then is a vacillation between self-reliance and God-reliance. This person is not looking to God from a stance of faith, and for this person there is no promise that God will give wisdom. The instability of this vacillating person is captured in the vivid imagery of the unstable sea wave, and this image stands in contrast to the perseverance in 1:3 (cf. Is 57:20). The testing of faith develops perseverance, but doubt (as a root unbelief) makes a person unstable.

Now we can summarize James's use of the first illustration. If you encounter a trial and lack wisdom to know what to do, stand the test of faith by asking God for the wisdom you need. As you ask God for wisdom, do not be unbelieving toward God or frightened about your lack of wisdom. Instead, trust God to give wisdom generously. He will do so. Therefore consider it pure joy that you face the trial, for that very trial will be used by God to develop your perseverance toward maturity.