September 2 | James 1:5

Pam Mann
Sep 2, 2025
3 min read

DAILY READING

REFLECTION

Wisdom on the Way

By Pam Mann

Imagine sitting among the first hearers of this letter from James as it is read aloud to your house church. You are a Hebrew follower of Jesus. You and thousands of others have fled your homeland. Jerusalem is destroyed; the temple is in rubble. But you know Jesus, the Messiah. You have purposed to follow Him, even in a new land with its strange culture. How good it is, as James reminds you, that God is with you! He will give you wisdom, James assures us. Just ask Him. Trust Him.

If we look further in James 3:13-18, we read how James makes clear that godly wisdom comes with humility. Just as the first readers of James did, we also can ask God for wisdom and trust in His provision. What does godly wisdom look like in practice? Consider what verse 3:17 says:

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate,

submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

In all the stress of cultural dissonance, James urges his readers (including us!) to focus on what God can do in any situation. If the Spirit of the resurrected Jesus is alive and present among us, we can ask for wisdom, and He will grant it to us. We then will have the wisdom to be peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere. Any neighborhood can benefit from more folks who are wise like that!

Proverbs 1:7 says: The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Doesn’t it seem likely that the fear of the Lord is also the middle and the end of wisdom, too? We don’t want single-use-only wisdom, do we? We want wisdom to become part of who we are! What if we kept fearing God, daily coming to Him for renewal, regularly asking for wisdom as we deal with personal relationships? Would we avoid pitfalls, like Solomon’s tragic descent from renown regal wisdom to foolish apostasy as he worshipped the idols of his many foreign wives?

In our lifetime, our culture has changed a lot. We need wisdom to navigate fluctuating personal connections in a godly way. James knew, writing nearly 2,000 years ago, that his first readers, likewise, needed wisdom to walk in Christ amidst their cultural challenges. Society changes continually while our need for God’s wisdom is a constant.

We can repeat to one another the good news that Jesus is alive and at work among us. We need not fear the daunting challenges ahead because we fear the Lord God Almighty. Our lives are in His mighty hands, no matter how difficult our trials. When we ask, He will grant us wisdom.

PRAYER

Thank you, Jesus, for Your abiding presence with us. In Your mercy and goodness, You bless us with peace and wisdom. Keep us ever coming back to You for more.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

PAM MANN

I first joined UALC when my husband (then my fiancé) and I were college students involved in youth ministry. God has used UALC to nurture our family’s faith, even in our years outside the U.S. I’ve participated in UALC ministries with kids, art, prayer, exercise, ESL, and Bible teaching. I do all the fun church things.