Prayer and Our Needs

The exhortation in james 1:5, to ask God for wisdom, is intimately connected with the preceding verses.  The specific wisdom intended is the understanding or skill to manage afflictions to our great benefit.  In the Bible, wisdom is the ability to correctly apply knowledge to our lives.  From Scripture we learn that affliction is intended by God for a good purpose.  In the context of James 1:2-5, wisdom is applying the knowledge we learn from God’s word so that we are able to patiently and cheerfully endure afflictions.  Only God can provide this.  If we desire wisdom to endure afflictions without complaining or growing fainthearted, we must ask God.  Note very carefully what it is that motivates prayer in verse 5.  It is the sense of our own need; it is being aware that we lack something.  We realize that we lack the wisdom we require, and we acknowledge that only the Lord can provide it.  The more we understand that our desires can only met by God, the more we will be dependent upon Him.  We are made up of many desires, and we must look to God to fulfill them.  It is well that God sanctifies our self-love to so blessed a purpose.  The first motive that drives us to the Lord in prayer is a sense of our need.  In particular, afflictions manifest just how needy we are.