CHAPTER III

THE PLACE OF PRAYER IN THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF JAMES

JAMES the Just, the Lord's brother, and head of the church in Jerusalem, was a man of crystalline purity. He was something of an ascetic, and lived a life of spiritual aloofness. Tradition has it that he prayed continually in the temple for the forgiveness of the people, spending whole nights in prayer, until his knees became hard as a camel's. With a spirit of devotion he combined a passion for righteousness, resembling in this respect one of the ancient prophets. His epistle, which supplies a high standard of Christian ethics, is the production of a pragmatist, who brings every doctrine to the touchstone of experience. To this test he subjects the subject of prayer, considering it in a practical way as related to daily life.

1. Prayer for Wisdom.

"If any of you lacketh wisdom, let him ask God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing doubting" (James 1. 5, 6).

(1) Consider the hypothetical need. "If any of you lacketh wisdom"-and who does not? "It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." His

wisdom is not sufficient to solve the perplexing problems that confront him day by day. He needs a higher wisdom than his own to correct his judgments and enable him to make proper adjustments and appraisements, so that he may be able to match means to ends in securing the highest objects in life.

(a) "This true wisdom is from above," and it is to be distinguished from that which is from below (3. 15-17). It does not come by nature. It is not earth-born. It has its origin in heaven. It gives us God's viewpoint touching the practical things of life.

(b) It is "spiritual," and is to be distinguished from that which is "earthly, sensual, devilish." It has to do with things in the upper sphere, as earthborn wisdom has to do with things in the lower sphere.

(2) How is it to be obtained?

(a) By asking it from God. He is the fountainhead of wisdom. He is the only one who can guide man aright in the entanglements of life. He knows life's true goal, and he knows the way we can reach it.

(b) By asking it from God with unshaken faith, staggering not at the promise. Whoever prays without confidence cannot hope that his prayer will be granted.

(c) By asking it with a single mind-and not with two minds in conflict with each other. Doubt is fatal. He that doubteth is the sport of his own divided mind, being "like the surge of the sea,"

which the wind scatters into feathery foam. His divided mind breaks his prayer into atoms and keeps it from reaching the mark.

(3) How is it given?

(a) Impartially. "To all men," that is, to all men who feel and confess their need of it, and seek it in prayer from God the Giver.

(b) Liberally. Without stint; and with no limitations whatsoever except unwillingness or unreadiness to receive it.

(c) Graciously. Without upbraiding, either because one has asked too often or too much.

The gift of wisdom is not bestowed directly; it is not poured into the heart as water into a vessel; it comes through the operation of God's grace, in the enlightenment of our judgment touching the ordinary experiences of life. We pray to him for light, and trust in him for leading, and he makes us wise in his own wisdom-not worldly-wise but heavenly-wise-so that although we may appear to blunder, and may even be accounted the world's fools, yet, touching the supreme things, we shall make no mistake and shall receive the commendation of the Master of men for having chosen the good part which shall not be taken away from us.

2. Unoffered and Unavailing Prayer.

"Ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures” (4. 2, 3). The two thoughts which are here presented are:

(1) Loss from unoffered prayers. "Ye have not, because ye ask not." Some things come without our asking; some things come by our asking. God wants to be asked; he waits to be asked; he loves to be asked; he encourages us to ask, that a new condition may be supplied which will enable him to give special and superabundant blessings, which he would otherwise have to withhold. Holy desires are awakened within us by the operation of his Spirit upon our hearts, that they may find voice in prayer. They are calls to prayer; and if any one turns a deaf ear to them, he is guilty of resisting the Holy Spirit.

We speak of the loss sustained by kind words unspoken and kind deeds undone; equally great is the loss sustained by prayers unprayed. We have not, and others have not, because the hand of restraint has been put upon the mouth of the soul, and the impulse to pray has been checked.

(2) Loss from wrong prayer. "Ye ask amiss," that is, ye ask with a wrong intent, from a wrong motive, and for an unworthy end, and thus miss the mark in prayer.

There are formal, foolish, selfish prayers, which fail to obtain an answer. When unanswered the reason is found in our praying and not in God's arbitrary withholding. If a wrong thing is asked, or a right thing is asked for a wrong purpose, our prayer is mercifully denied. When we pray, for instance, for wealth, that we may expend it in selfish and sinful gratification of the senses, God may deny our prayer, that he may save us from

our own undoing. Never can we know from what perils he may have saved us by winnowing out our prayers.

3. God Meeting Man More Than Half Way.

"Draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh unto you" (4. 8). Prayer is not an individual act. It is something in which two are engaged-man and God. These two have reciprocal relations. When a man meditates or soliloquizes he is by himself; when he prays he is dealing with God, and God is dealing with him. Neither is passive; both make advances; both open themselves to each other; both seek to establish commerce between one another.

To this reciprocal relation and interaction between man and God in prayer the words before us refer. In them we have:

(1) The movement of man Godward. In prayer man is not only drawn upward to God, he moves upward to God. With an instinct strong and true as nature itself he seeks after him, and endeavors to come into direct and personal connection with him. He has been "organized for God" and can find his true life in him alone. He has wants which none but God can supply, desires which none but God can gratify. When his religious nature is awakened, an active, persistent search for God is begun, a search which is never ended until the object of his quest is found.

(2) The movement of God manward. This thought James emphasizes, making it the ground of