Ye lust and have not ye kill and are full of envy, and cannot obtain; ye fight and war; ye have not because ye ask not.
Behind every quarrel James finds a deeper cause: a desire inside a person that nothing satisfies and nothing stops. The verse traces a chain — wanting, killing, coveting, fighting — and ends with a quiet charge: they never asked God for anything.
Where the Fighting Begins
James is not describing wars between nations. The trouble is among the people he writes to, and even the words for it come from a world that does not know God.
These violent workings sprang from self unjudged. When they are deliberate and ongoing, we call them "wars." When they are passing outbreaks, we call them "fightings" or "battles." But they describe violence not out in the world, but among the people he addresses. The humbling fact remains: the words we use for them come from the uncontrolled ways of men who did not know God.
The trouble is not a shortage of resources but the appetite itself, working through the body's own members without any restraint from the will or fear of God.
The members of the body in this case play their part, unchecked by the will or fear of God: the throat, an open grave; the tongue, deceitful; the lips, with poison underneath; the mouth, full of bitterness; the eyes, full of adultery; the hands, ready for robbery; the heart, prone to covetousness; the feet, swift to shed blood. How hopelessly evil, if grace had not given another nature through and according to the word of truth!
Desire That Never Fills
Wanting and not having is not a temporary shortfall. It is what happens to a heart chasing what cannot satisfy it — and that covers far more than bodily appetite.
The gratification of the lusts of the natural man produces fightings, and not the new nature, that which is from above. This includes all forms of lust — not only those of the flesh, but the lust for power, the lust for pre-eminence and leadership, the lusts of the mind. "You desire and do not have" — nothing can satisfy the heart of man. Any kind of lust ends in disappointment and remorse.
The same hunger has a picture in the animal world.
The wild beast knows nothing of restraint upon his passions. He tears and slaughters more than enough to satisfy his cravings, and yet is not satisfied, and slaughters again tomorrow. Man in his unconverted state is like this... This is indeed the way of the world, but let us see to it that we keep quite clear of this greedy, unsatisfied spirit.
Murder, Envy, and the Prayer Never Prayed
The word "murder" shocks. But it names what envy does when it wants a rival out of the way — and the whole cycle turns out to be needless.
The flesh shows itself here in all its repulsive features. There is lust that is never fulfilled. There is the viciousness of virtual murder — putting another out of the way, because the heart is filled with envy. At the same time there is frustration, with murmuring and contention. Yet how foolish and unnecessary all of this is! "You do not have, because you do not ask." God will surely answer a quiet spirit of dependent faith that simply asks of Him.
That last clause lands hardest against God's own open invitation to ask.
There is no limit, except the limit that little faith may set. God does guard His giving, so that the gift is good — and that is not a limit. The Lord backs His exhortations twice over with the promise that "everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened." What a door this opens for us! What possibility of blessing! How rich we may all be, if only we will be! And yet the apostle's words could apply in the fresh early days when they were written: "You do not have, because you do not ask."
Who James Is Speaking To
This letter does not speak to believers only. That is why the language can be so severe.
James does have Christians in view, but not Christians only. As he says himself, he is writing to the people of Israel, and not only to those in Israel who believe... So there is a word here for those among them who were plainly not born of God, as well.
Yet none of that lets a believer off. What fills the heart shapes what we ask for.
No man could seek His glory and the gratification of his own lusts at the same time. If we are near to Him, we will know how rich His giving is, and we will ask. Our knowledge of Him will guide our asking, and we will not ask wrongly.
The Dead End
Kelly traces where this whole course ends.
There are desires that come to nothing. There is violence taken to an extreme, and envy or jealousy in full measure, yet still no satisfaction. There is contention that keeps growing worse. There is no asking, and no answer of peace.
Summary
- Source — Quarrels start with self unjudged, and even their names come from a world that does not know God.
- Starvation — Wanting covers power, position and the mind, not just the body. No form of it ever ends satisfied.
- Sabotage — Envy pushes a rival out of the way and still gains nothing. The whole cycle is foolish and unnecessary.
- Silence — The one thing never tried is asking. God's door stands open. The only limits are small faith and His care that the gift be good.
- Solution — Nearness to God reshapes what we want, so we ask — and ask rightly.