If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. (James 1.5)

One minute life is rolling along like a car on the highway between our past and our destination when all of a sudden a tire blows or the engine starts to tremble. In a moment we feel like we’re swimming on dry land. A difficult truth we struggle with is that a life in motion is filled with trials and tribulations. Trials can be debilitating, leaving us cold and searching for meaning. Calamity can leave us seasick and spinning without answers.

James saw the early Church suffering under the disorienting forces of diverse trials. They felt like travelers surrounded by thieves on every side. These incomprehensible experiences left them bruised, struggling to make sense of their faith. These trials revealed a lack in their lives they didn’t know was there. Interwoven threads of insecurity, confusion and powerlessness sprang out one single source, the lack of divine wisdom. Our brothers and sisters in the early Church discovered their lack of wisdom could not be filled in with human answers.

James knew this lack personally. He was no stranger to our shared human experience. He once lacked wisdom and couldn’t make sense of life. When James turned His heart toward the Father through Jesus Christ he experienced the generosity of God. The Lord is not stingy with His revelation. He is not a loanshark preying on the poverty of the disenfranchised. Through Jesus, we find a free-handed Father who gives wisdom generously.

Jesus, lead me before the Father. I am asking, in faith, for wisdom to understand the trials surrounding me and learn to count in all joy as I draw near to you.