The Wavering Water Flow

             One morning I filled the cats’ water containers as March winds blew furiously. After filling one of the containers, I carried and sat it near the cats eating their morning feeding while I left the water running from the hydrant. As I turned to return and shut off the hydrant, I noticed very little water had run into the repurposed coffee container positioned directly under the spout of the hydrant. The flow of the water from the hydrant was being blown furiously about by the south wind. Muddy water pooled just north of the little coffee container-turned-cat-water-bowl.

This photo was taken in May of last year
 but even that day the Oklahoma wind
was still "sweeping down the plain."

As I turned the hydrant off, the passage from James 1:5-6 came to my mind. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of sea driven and tossed by the wind.

These words inspired by the Holy Spirit were penned by James, the half-brother of Jesus. The Gospels mentioned his name but his belief in Jesus as the Son of God was not noted at all. The earliest book written by Paul characterized James as “a pillar” of the Jerusalem church. Only the resurrection of Jesus and His appearance to around 500 people transformed James from a skeptic to a believer in his mother’s son, Jesus the Messiah.

In the first section of the book of James, he admonished the “scattered” Jerusalem believers to ask for wisdom. A workable definition from Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts defined wisdom as “seeing and responding to life’s situations from God’s frame of reference.”

James indicated God will give liberally and ungrudgingly to all who ask. Then he gave the stipulation of asking in faith. When I saw the stream of water from the hydrant being blown, I thought of James comparing doubt to water (like a wave) being blown about or tossed by wind.

In a tense situation, fear spawns doubt. Even though it is hard to admit, we doubt God will give His wisdom and divine discernment at that time. Instead, leaning on one’s own understanding, which King Solomon condemns in Proverbs 3:5, becomes the default. Just as the wind blew the hydrant’s water stream off course, fear and failure to embrace wholeheartedly the faith of God skews our thinking about what is God's wise way, instead we make a decision in opposition to God’s frame of reference. Just as the water flow missed its mark and made a muddy mess, when our doubt replaces our surety of God’s faithfulness to grant us wisdom, we make a mess in our relationships, our interactions, and our life activity. 

We must intentionally build our faith as we study and meditate on God’s Word. Then our day-to-day obedience amid trials “strengthens our faith muscles” as our pastor’s wife, Caryn Tucker Brock says. 

Lord, as adversity and trouble come our way, may we withstand the spiritually destructive, gusty wind of doubt as our faith-strengthened muscles hold up the Shield of Faith and navigate our trials with Your godly wisdom directing us through this world.