“Wise up”
Wise up! …Those are words I’m sure we’ve all had said to us at some time or other. Perhaps we’ve been carrying on, and they’ve been said to us in jest. “Would you ever wise up?” …Or, (more seriously), they’ve been said in rebuke. We’ve done something really foolish, made a terrible decision, and the “wise up” we’ve heard is a reprimand, a sort of …“you need to get your act together.”
And “wise up” is what James seems to be saying to us in verse 5. However James is neither bantering or rebuking, he’s giving advice. James is pointing us to the direction wisdom can be found. It’s “UP,” it’s “wise UP”
James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
Wisdom, true wisdom comes from above, it comes from God. It’s a truth he repeats in chapter 3 verse 17 “true wisdom comes from above.” …The book of James points us towards an endless source of wisdom. It’s UP, with God, who is more than willing to share it with anyone who asks for it. It’s God’s gift to those who don’t know what to do, or how to do it.
Perhaps that’s where this devotional thought finds you - at wits end, stumped, not knowing where to turn, not knowing what to do. You have a problem bigger than you can solve, and no amount of Googling, YouTubing, phoning a friend will help. “…God can help,” James says. If you lack wisdom, go to Him. …I invite you approach Him in prayer now.
Heavenly Father I thank you that you are willing to share your great wisdom with us. And I thank you that it comes to us, (not in a difficult to read manual), but in a Person. Jesus Christ is the wisdom of God personified - the one who was “UP” but came down from above. We pray that in our “not knowing what to do,” you would lead us to the One who always knows what to do - to Jesus, and that we might find in Him the rest, the peace, and the answers we’re looking for. We pray in Jesus Name Amen.