James 4:7-10 NKJV
I Samuel 30:1-6
James Series
James’ words of encouragement to the Jews living outside Jerusalem were followed by practical advise they could follow daily. It’s almost as if he was giving them a list of things to do every day.
James 4:7-10 wrote, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”
When I was growing up I would ask my dad questions about everything, especially things found in the scriptures.
Almost 90% of the time, when I had a question, my dad would tell me the same thing. He would say, “surrender it to God and wait”. When I walked away, I would often roll my eyes.
That’s because I was young and I didn’t “get” it. My dad died of cancer when I was 34 years old.
The right answer to my questions was indeed, “surrender it to God”. Another way of saying that is “submit to God.” My dad knew that.
I have now learned that submitting everything to God is the most satisfying way to live. Submitting a wrong done to us by forgiving them releases it to God. That’s because until we forgive them, God can’t take over.
So why do we need to submit to God? Simply put, it’s because He is creator, He is Good, God saves us, and God gives us peace.
Paul’s second directive to the Jews living outside Jerusalem was, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” The Greek word for resist is antistete and it means stand against.
When I was in my late 30’s someone told me when dealing with Satan we need to ‘cast him out’. I tried doing that, but it seemed like he would come back. When he came back it felt stronger each time. One day I got mad when I felt like Satan was attacking me and I said, “I am not listening!” I was mad and I meant it. That seemed to work. Standing against and telling the devil, “I’m not listening” is more in line with what James described.
According to what James wrote, the devil will flee when you stand against him. Apparently he doesn’t like it when we refuse to listen!
In James 4:8a, James wrote, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” Some ways we can draw near to God are by praying, communing with God, worshipping God, taking Communion (sharing the Sacrament), and seeking God for answers.
According to what James experienced and wrote about, whenever he would turn to God, God responded. God will draw near to you when you speak the name of God, think about God, worship God, or even when you just lean toward God (like sitting on His lap).
In James 4:8b, James tells us to cleanse ourselves of sin by submitting what we’ve done to God. Specifically James wrote, “cleanse your hands, you sinners.” Once we realize we need to submit our sin to God and ask for forgiveness, the sooner we confess it, the sooner our relationship with God will get back on track. Understand I believe it’s off track because we move away from God. god never moves away from us. God is eternal, unmovable and unstoppable.
There have been times in my life when I felt I was distanced from God. That can mean a few different things. It can be because we are really busy, or it can be because we did something God doesn’t approve of, like lying about something. When we lie, or gossip, or make choices that God knows are not good for us, we need to go to God (submit it to God), confess it, and ask God to forgive us. We have strayed away from the source of life.
James tells us to cleanse ourselves and purify our hearts through Jesus’ blood shed on the cross. That process can take a millisecond or can be a longer more intentional process. Either way, asking Jesus to cover and cleanse us brings us back into fellowship with God.
Paul also tells his readers they should not be double- minded. It’s important that we will BE LIKE-MINDED IN God. That means we will think like God thinks. Be one with God…IN God.
It may seem a little strange to some that James instructed the Jews living outside of Jerusalem to weep and mourn to God. Actually, there is a thing about weeping and mourning to God in prayer. When we mourn we are admitting our deepest feelings and “crying them out”. Literally, my Spiritual Director used to tell me to ‘cry it out’ because our tears heal us. At one point I was working through very deep seated pain and I was weeping and mourning with God day and night. I told my Spiritual Director I didn’t think I would ever stop crying. He replied, “you will stop when you have cried it out.” He was right. One day I realized I was crying less and less and then I stopped crying. God wired us to have a coping mechanism to help us deal with our grief.
In James 4:9b he advised, “Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.” He was telling them to run toward their mourning and gloom. When we deny our true feelings and stuff them down, they tend to manifest themselves in other ways. It’s best to face them. In I Samuel 30:1-6 that’s exactly what David and his men did. They wept before God, and in verse 6 we read that after the weeping was over, “David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.”
Finally, James tells the Jews in James 4:10 to “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” Notice it is not you who will lift you up. It’s God who will lift you up.
You do not do the lifting. All you need to do is submit it to God and He will do the hard stuff.
Always.
Today’s Spiritual Practice is: Submit (surrender) to God
Surrender what you’re struggling with…give it to God. Let God do the hard work of healing you.
In God, Deborah
acrazyjourney.com
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