but let him ask in faith, nothing doubting. For he that doubts is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed about;
God promises wisdom to anyone who asks Him for it. This verse adds a condition — not to His giving, but to our asking — and it pictures the doubter as a wave at the mercy of the wind.
What Turns Asking Into Prayer
Asking in faith is not an extra step added to prayer. One writer treats faith as the thing that turns asking into prayer:
Faith is the breath of prayer; prayer is dead unless faith breathes in it. "But let him ask in faith" (James 1:6). "And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith" (Matthew 21:22). Without faith it is speaking, not praying. Faith must take prayer by the hand, or there is no coming near to God. A faithless prayer is fruitless.
No Reason To Waver
Verse 5 has already settled the outcome. That promise leaves no ground for hesitation:
"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him." God is what He is, and His word is the word of truth. So there is no room for doubt about this: "it will be given him." That is why the verse goes on, "But let him ask in faith, with no doubting." Why should he waver, when God is the unwavering God and His word the word of truth?
There is more here than a rule for us to keep. God Himself has a preference about how we come:
God loves us to send our prayers up to Him in a spirit of confidence in His goodness.
Where The Wavering Comes From
James does not only condemn doubt. He explains it with the picture of a wave, and one writer traces the doubt back to what the eye watches:
So the apostle insists here that the one who asks should "ask in faith, with no doubting." Is it hard to do that? We are told at once how it is hard — where the doubt comes from. "For the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind." He lies open to the influence of the things around him — the things the eye looks at the moment God is not before it.
A wave has no direction of its own. In prayer, that means our asking rises and falls with our circumstances:
The wave is exposed to winds from every quarter. We must not let the difficulty of the circumstances or the strength of opposing evil shape our prayers. In simple faith we look to the One who is above every opposing influence of evil — the One who can walk on the waves and calm the storm. He alone can give us the wisdom to act according to His will.
Doubt As A Contest Of Wills
Not every inner struggle is the doubt James means. Grant draws the line:
James is not speaking of the exercises an honest soul may have while working out what the way of the Lord is. He is speaking of the instability that comes from a double mind: the strife of our own wills with God's will, the desire to have Him act according to our mind instead of desiring to act according to His mind.
So the promise of verse 5 needs care. If we are really asking help for a plan of our own, the answer may come in a form we did not expect:
If we ask wisdom, how can He deny us? But suppose we mean wisdom to carry out some plan of our own devising. Then, if we are in earnest, the wisdom He gives must be wisdom to drop that plan.
The Cost Of A Divided Mind
The doubter is not being punished for nothing. His own state is what keeps him from receiving:
The word here is not the usual word for a wave; it means a single billow, and here it is the plaything of winds blowing this way and that. How could it be otherwise with the man who in his weakness does not lean on the Lord? Whatever may be given, there is no real receiving from the Lord on his part who does not trust Him. If in one way he speaks, in another he feels and acts, being of double soul. Instability marks all his course.
Doubt costs the doubter, but it also touches God:
So we need unwavering confidence if we want our prayers answered. To doubt is to dishonour God, and it kills our own prayers.
Summary
- One breath. Faith is the breath of prayer — without it, asking is speaking, not praying.
- One promise. There is no room to waver, because God is the unwavering God and His word is the word of truth.
- One eye. Doubt starts the moment our eye leaves God and studies the circumstances. Then the wind decides our direction.
- One will. The instability James condemns is not honest searching. It is our will fighting God's — wanting Him to act our way.
- One result. The man who does not trust receives nothing from the Lord. Instability marks his whole course.