If any of you need wisdom, you should ask God, and it will be given to you. God is generous and won’t correct you for asking. James 1:5 CEV

I like the book of James. It’s not just that we share the same name… we see the working out of our faith very similarly.

Our verse today finds itself in the very first portion of the very first chapter of James. It is a part of the introduction to a letter. The verse also lays out one of the main themes of the book: Wisdom. In our verse James instructs the church that if they need wisdom, God is the one to ask. Sounds simple, and it is, but we’re due a little digging.

When I was young I thought there was no difference between wisdom and knowledge. I now realize there is quite a difference. Knowledge is what you know, and Wisdom is knowing what to do with what you know. Unfortunately for us, humans don’t know everything. We don’t even know everything about ourselves, much less the situations that arise. Therefore any decisions we make are based on an incomplete understanding of things, people, the past, present, and future. And as James says in the end of chapter 3, what we decide to do (in our wisdom) is often driven by selfish ambition. James says it’s ‘natural’ and demonic. I’m pretty sure that’s a bad thing.

The Bible is clear that all true Wisdom comes expressly from God Himself. God is the source of all wisdom because he has all knowledge. Theologians would say He is “omniscient” a fancy word for “knows everything perfectly”. So when God makes plans he does so with all that perfect knowledge. His plans, his ways are fully trustworthy, and based on what I’m gathering from our verse, is available to anyone who asks.

To recap. Knowledge is “know what”. Wisdom is “know how”. We often don’t know how because we don’t know what. We don’t really know what is coming, what is happening, or what will happen on either end of a decision we have to make. We fall very short in the “know what” side of things, so why do we trust our own “know how” so often?

I used to wonder how often I should ask God about stuff I wanted to do. I had met people I thought a bit freakish who asked God what kind of soda he wanted them to drink. On the other end of the spectrum there were people who threw themselves into situations based on a false faith that God would stop them if they’re making the wrong choice. They believe apparently that God will just meet them wherever they go and work his magic God powers and make whatever they chose to do into his will for them.

Somewhere between those extremes is the way. Personally I take it on a case by case basis. I can handle soda decisions on my own. I don’t see the Kingdom of God suffering because I wanted a Diet Coke. I can also handle daily behavioral choices because I have a working knowledge of the Bible. That knowledge grows with learning and is (hopefully) constantly upgrading my “know how” in that area.

I can also handle many hard choices on my own. Those choices where we know the right thing to do, but the answer is so difficult that we pretend that we have to think and pray about it. Typically in those cases I have found that the hardest thing is often the right thing.

Lastly are the choices that come along that I know I am completely incapable of making on my own. I am very aware of my limited ability to get things right. I do not trust myself at all and quite frankly, I don’t want to carry the responsibility for the outcome of the decision. At least if things seem to go belly up after we’ve done what God wanted us to do, my wife doesn’t hate me.

This year I stepped down from my position as a children’s pastor because of major depressive disorder. I could not perform my duties. The church declined my request to go part-time while I sought treatment and recovery. However they didn’t want to let me go. I knew they needed and deserved a fully functioning children’s pastor. It was a hard choice but I didn’t need to pray for wisdom in this case. So though it was very difficult the right thing to do was step away and allow them to hire the right person for the job. Time has proven that decision was a correct one.

Shortly after we were faced with another dilemma. Since the church provided free high quality christian education for our children that would no longer be free, and we were down an entire income, would we dig in and spend the money to keep things normal for the kids or save the money and put them in public school? That decision fell into a category I call “Whichever”. Where there is no bad choice. It’s difficult, but either has it’s benefits and it’s caveats. I didn’t ask for wisdom on that either. We chose to make the sacrifice for one more year so that my son could go to Kindergarten. Next year they’ll make the switch to public school. No harm, no foul.

Next up, after it was apparent that I was in recovery the question came, “What now?” Do we move back to Kansas City where we have friends? Do we stay here and join a church and settle in? Do I go out and get another job as a pastor out of a sense of duty to my family to provide income? Our knowledge, particularly about the future, was extremely limited, fragmented and stained with uncertainty and outright fear. God’s wisdom was required.

I’d love to say that we spent hours on our faces. That we Daniel fasted and prayed for days and days. No. We just asked. We asked without doubting that God still had a plan for us even though everything in our lives said otherwise. Out of sheer determination that our recent suffering would not have been in vain, we decided that we were going to wait on Him.

I always wondered how God talked to people when I was a kid. Pastors would say, “God told me this,” and “God told me that.” I just assumed he just talked to the really spiritual guys like he did in the Bible days, out loud. I grew very frustrated in later years when I started praying myself. I would talk to God, but didn’t know how he communicated back. I definitely wasn’t hearing any audible thunderous God voices. I used to imagine I heard Him talking in my head. So I did a little test. I quickly realized that I could make that voice say whatever I wanted (“I want you to go to Africa… to eat a hotdog!”). So prayer became rather one-sided for many, many years. All that to say…

So we were waiting on God to give us some wisdom. I said before that we had no doubts about God having a plan, and that is true. We did, however, have doubts if He would share any of that plan with us. To date He hasn’t told us much, He rarely does in my experience, but it’s clear that we have heard from God. Here’s how.

For me, when I know I’ve heard from God, it comes as an idea, a direction, even a third option, that I know I would have never come up with on my own. I have the added advantage of having a lot of dumb ideas going through my head all the time, so when I get a solid, insightful, and outright brilliant thought, I know it’s not mine. Even then I wait. My wife and I must agree, and without exception everytime God has “spoken” to me, he has done the same with her. There’s also the Bible test. If it is something that goes against Scripture, it is obviously not from God.

So as we’re talking about the future early this month, we’re swapping stories. Turns out we both felt that God wanted us to do…. nothing. Nothing? How annoying is that for two first-born, type-A personalities. We thrive on taking the reigns and showing God how little he needs to do for us! Just point us in a direction God and we’ll do you right proud! But no! No. Do nothing. Move? No. Get a job? No. Get another job? No. Start putting feelers out on future ministry opportunities? No. Just wait.

Spiritual people talk about getting “confirmations” on what they believe God is telling them. I often see it as a form of wishful thinking where people see and hear what they want to hear so they can do what they want to do. At least that’s been my impression.

So then a very authentically spiritual mentor, friend, lady, person sends us a facebook message saying something to the tune of, “God is saying, “Wait and let me work.” So that happened. It was awesome to hear, but kind of annoying because now I have to go back and give some credit to at least some of those people I thought were loonies.

So we’ve accepted this as God’s wisdom. It’s what he wants us to do. Definitely not what we want to do, but we’ve accepted it. Then I’m driving the kids home from school and my 9 year old is babbling on about school and friends and a field trip. Then she starts talking about our family. She says something close to, “One day you’ll be a pastor again but for now we need to wait and do nothing.” I’d love to say that she heard us talking, but no. Freaky spiritual stuff.

Now you know how God speaks to the Kennison family. Though it doesn’t always involve so many people. I do find it interesting that God apparently discusses our business with our eldest child. Quite annoying.

Even in the “Nothing” phase I’m still asking for wisdom. Because “do nothing” obviously means don’t make any major life changes based on a temporary situation… not sit on your hands and watch the grass grow. So I’ve asked again. The idea I got back was, “You can fill your time with what you can do… or what you should do.” So although I probably would have filled my day with podcasting, comic creating and just generally using my talents to self-promote, I’m doing things differently.

I’m doing a podcast that helps me, and others, find something that makes every day worthwhile. I’m writing these Bible Stuff articles. I’m writing a children’s book. I’m reading tons of books. Some for middle reader research others are of people who have had experiences like mine and how their lives turned out (no harm in peeking behind the curtain). I’m also considering taking some bible classes to further my education and complete my ordination.

Why did I just overshare like a beast? Cause someone needs to know when to ask, how easy it is to ask, that God answers, and that it’s in a very practical way. Getting Wisdom from God? That’s easy. Obeying it… no so much.

So to recap: If anyone needs wisdom, just ask God. He gives it generously (not instantly), and He gives it without finding fault. That means that you are never in a bad enough situation where you can’t ask God for help. You may have dug yourself into a mell of a hess, but he will give you wisdom and won’t hold back just because you screwed up. He will not condemn you when it comes to wanting to do things right. Ask knowing that He knows the “how to”. Don’t doubt that. Stand on that truth while you wait and you will not be pushed into choices you shouldn’t make. (James 1:5-7 – paraphrase mine).