James 1:5-8
“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. 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. For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
Our Creator promises us wisdom, with the condition that we do not waver or become double-minded. We have much to consider of ourselves, when apply these verses (James 1:5-8) to ourselves. All that are honest with themselves, see within themselves battles with indecision, from time to time.
The anguished father in Mark 9:24, who says, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” might be accused of being double-minded, but he is not. He desperately wanted to believe, and he asked for help. He was not of two opinions. The Greek word translated “double-minded” in James 1:8, dipsuchos, in its literal sense means “double-souled,” like having two independent wills. The words “with no doubting” in verse 6 are translated from the Greek words meedén diakrinómenos, which describes one divided in mind, who wavers between two opinions.
Some may wonder whether the apostle Paul, when he complained, “For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice” (Romans 7:19), was exercising double-mindedness. The state of struggle that goes on in all of us is not the same as double-mindedness. Paul’s mind was focused in one way or direction (verse 22), but inherent in the flesh of every human being is an innate enmity toward God and His law (Romans 7:23; 8:7). Just like Paul, we fail to keep God’s law perfectly, because we have human nature in us that is perpetually at war with God’s Holy Spirit, in us. God’s law is the vehicle of wisdom we are to request, as stated in James 1:5. It would be absurd for someone to ask to be filled with the spirit of the law and be determined not to keep it. Harboring any secret sin puts a tremendous strain on the physical body’s nervous system. Psychologists have a name for this emotional/psychological turmoil: cognitive dissonance, literally “inharmonious thought.” The easiest way to find balance and the instruction of God’s wisdom is to reject the beliefs that send us into a spiritual dither.
