Coping
By RICHARD McNEELY Professor of Biblical Studies
dom. His response is consistently to make the bestowal. Of course, we have to be sincere, asking in faith which is really obeying what Scripture affirms. This exercise in faith should result in correcting behaviour. If it does not it is simply dead and not productive. We have to be sincere in the matter of re questing wisdom from God. Verses 9 to 11 give us the illus tration of the rich and the poor men. In James' day the classifica tions of society were not as we see them in the United States today. We do not realize the impact west ern culture and Christianity have had upon life in general. In those days there were two basic ex tremes of society with very little between on the spectrum. We see this about the rich in the second and fifth chapters. Wealth had evi- dentally resulted from the terrible
If we are to face trials victoriously we must allow ourselves to be pre pared emotionally. This is why we are told to "Count it joy when you fall into divers trials." The intellec tual attitude reminds us that trials come as a learning experience as we allow our faith to be put into practice. Faith is a progressive pro cess. The goal of our faith is to make us perfect and whole. The Lord has so much in store for us if we would only allow Him to have His way. We have to recognize our need and isolate it. Wisdom is our primary prerequisite and gives sta bility in the midst of the trial. This is why Paul prayed many times that the saints going through trials would be filled with all the wis dom of Cod. How wonderful to be assured that Cod is a great Giver! He never gets angry at us for asking for wis
Page 34
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker