Praying with Confidence when We Are Anything but Confident

I have been praying for wisdom lately on a number of issues. James 1:5 says, 

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.

The following verses state that such a request must be made in faith without doubting. This often makes so much sense to my mind, but seems like the farthest thing from possible to my heart. After all, life is pressing in! I need direction! What should I do?! How does one pray with confidence when he or she is in the throes of the waves of doubt?

J. A. Motyer's comments on this verse bear repeating:

In conformity with his practical approach to things, there is a beautiful directness and simplicity about the teaching of James: whoever lacks wisdom can ask for it, and God will give it. Just like that! Such simplicity is either totally unrealistic, or else finds is justification in what is known about God. For James, it is the latter. His doctrine of God is such that he can afford to make large promises in his name, and to affirm that those promises will be honoured. He teaches us, first, that God’s nature it to give. He writes (literally) ‘… let him ask from the giving God …’. The requirements of English make it impossible for us to leave the words just like that, because we have to accommodate the remainder of what James writes within the framework of English grammar. But this is, in fact, how he sees God in himself: he is ‘the giving God’. No one attribute expresses all that is true about God, but each expresses something about him that is true all the time. If we speak of him as ‘gracious’ there are very many other things to say before the divine nature is fully described. Yet there is never a time when we could come to him and find that he was no longer gracious. So it is, also, when he is described as ‘the giving God’. His attributes are as infinite as he himself is, but there is no war among them: they are as perfectly one as he himself is. When we come with our prayers, he never replies, ‘Come back tomorrow. Perhaps I will then be able to be “the giving God” again, but today I must occupy myself with being something else.’ ‘Giving’ is not the whole truth, but it is ceaselessly true. He is more than ‘giving’, but he is always ‘giving.’[1]

How does one pray with confidence when he or she is in the throes of the waves of doubt? The secret, I believe, is found in looking outside ourselves. Confidence in the character of God leads to confidence in our praying. 

"I believe [Lord]; help my unbelief" (Mark 9:24).

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[1] J. A. Motyer, The Message of James (The Bible Speaks Today; ed. John R. W. Stott; Accordance electronic ed. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1985), 38.

It Is Neither Your Graces Nor Feelings on Which Your Are to Live

As an addition to reading Scripture, I've been reading Spurgeon's Morning & Evening intermittently the last month. This morning, I read the following and wanted to share it.

First John 3:1-2 reads,

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is (1 John 3:1-2)

Commenting on the phrase "Beloved, we are God's children now," Spurgeon writes,

How is it with your heart his morning? Are you in the lowest depths of sorrow? Does corruption rise within your spirit, and grace seem like a poor spark trampled under foot? Does your faith almost fail you? Fear not, it is neither your graces nor feelings on which you are to live: you must live simply by faith on Christ. (Morning & Evening, 2/13m)

What a great reminder of the true means by which we are to live the Christian life!

P.S.--I only recently discovered this resource, but I highly recommend it. Spurgeon's writing is very poetic and falls somewhere between modern English and King James English. A modernized revision with ESV Scripture quotations of this classic has been published by Allistair Begg.

E-Books vs. Print Books

"I haven't decided if I will switch to e-books or not."

I have heard this statement many times. At one point--I must admit--I said it.

I recently I read an interesting interview with a long-time Christian publisher and editor for Crossway, Allan Fisher (Turning a New Page: An Interview with Allan Fisher). In that post, Fisher addresses the advantages, disadvantages, and future of e-books:

TT: What are some benefits and drawbacks regarding the shift to electronic books that we are seeing in our day?AF: Electronic books (e-books) are perfect for people on lengthy business trips or vacations who want to take along a wide range of reading without weighing down their luggage. For “disposable books” such as mass-market paperbacks and popular fiction, e-books also work well. As a replacement for some kinds of reference works, they’ve proven themselves. When it comes to longform nonfiction, however, e-book technology cannot, on balance, match the technology of printed books. When poring over a book with multiple elements (notes, figures, diagrams, charts, appendices, bibliographies, professionally prepared indexes, and so forth), I’d choose a printed book every time.

TT: Do you believe e-books will ever replace traditional books?AF: No. The technology of the printed book is just too good to be replaced completely by e-book technology. For large reference works that benefit from periodic updates and for disposable books, the e-book format may replace print. But for serious nonfiction, the technology of the printed book is superior, making it much easier to find one’s way around in the work, notate passages, and so forth. In addition, tablets are now replacing dedicated e-readers. While tablets function as well as the latter for reading e-books, they also place at the user’s fingertips several attractive options: the Internet, e-mail, e-games, Skyping, and more. While an e-reader can be compared to a bookstore and book reading room, an iPad can be compared to a variety store with a video-games area, a TV department, a stationery department, a branch post office, a telecommunications center, and, in the back, a book department. In such a variety store, how much attention will books receive?

While he was teaching here at SWBTS, Dr. Greg Welty gave what has proved to be some excellent advice about e-books. He advised several students to consider an e-book (Kindle, Nook, I-Pad, etc.) as another bookshelf in our library. 

Welty encouraged us to consider how the portability of this bookshelf might expand our reading options. We may find that certain books or genres of books lend themselves to the e-book format and others do not. For example, I find it cumbersome to read a systematic theology work on my Kindle, but reading a fiction novel or personal growth book (i.e., marriage, parenting, finance, leadership, etc.) works well. 

For the books and genres that are a good fit, the portability of an e-reader allows one to read at times and places that would otherwise be impractical or difficult. My Kindle Paperwhite holds up to 1500 books in its memory, and I can purchase, download, and begin reading a book within a minute or two if I have a WiFi connection.

I think Fisher and Welty are right. Pitting these formats against one another in an either/or way is simply wrongheaded. Rather than wrestle with the "decision" of which format is better, consider the advantages and disadvantages of each and maximize them.