What are the most challenging parts of your life? Maybe your job has been difficult recently. Maybe you have a ministry that has been exhausting or frustrating. There may be difficult people or relationships in your life. It could be anything, but we all have difficult tasks at times.
King Solomon was given a very difficult task by God, to govern His people Israel as their king. Solomon knew this job was too big for him, saying in 1 Kings 3:7-8, “O LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too many to be numbered or counted for multitude.”
Solomon’s response was not to despair or give up, but to rely on God, in verse 9 asking him to “Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?” God answered Solomon’s prayer and gave him wisdom that made him world-famous. The wisdom that only comes from God.
But this wisdom isn’t just for kingly or other grand duties. Just as Solomon did, we can all pray for God to give us wisdom to manage our lives better – those hard jobs, difficult relationships, challenging ministries, and other things. God doesn’t always solve our problems or remove our difficulties, but He does want to help us live wisely in the midst of them. If He has given us things to manage, He will also give us the resources to manage them, including wisdom.
Therefore, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” (James 1:5)
What does a Godly person act like? In Psalm 15, David asks this same question:
“O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?”
Then David lists a set of qualities that God requires for one to be righteous, and it includes how we swear. At the end of verse 4, David writes that a Godly person is someone “who swears to his own hurt and does not change.”
Some of the qualities in the list are easy to understand, but what does it mean when someone “swears to his own hurt”? David is not writing about swear or curse words. He’s writing about vows or promises made, but not just any vows.
There are vows that are hurtful, but are not qualities of a Godly person, such as when Saul vowed in 1 Samuel 14:24 – “Cursed be the man who eats food until it is evening and I am avenged on my enemies.” This vow resulted in a death sentence for Saul’s son Jonathan, which was overruled by the people. Another example is Jephthah, who vowed in Judges 11:30-31 – “If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whatever comes out from the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites shall be the LORD’S, and I will offer it up for a burnt offering.” This resulted in a death sentence for his own daughter, who was the first to come out of the house when he returned in peace. Saul and Jephthah swore to their own hurt, but this type of swearing is not a quality of a Godly person.
There are also vows that help us get ahead in this world. An honest reputation is good for a career or in getting along with people and feeling successful. But it’s easier to keep your word when there is a tangible benefit in this world. Honesty in these situations is not necessarily bad, but it just doesn’t rise to the level of righteousness. These vows are not what David is writing about either.
What David means by someone “who swears to his own hurt and does not change” is a person who is honest because it’s what God is and what God wants from us, no matter what it costs them. Even if honesty brings no benefit to the honest person, they remain honest anyway.
Maybe you’ve promised a spouse or friend that you will help with a project this weekend, but then you get a call from another friend who has tickets to a big game. Maybe you’ve promised to play with your children or help with their homework, but then remember you have a work project that requires after-hours time to get done. Maybe vowing to be honest at work means you have to reveal something that could hurt your businesses’ reputation? A person who “who swears to his own hurt and does not change” is not affected by changes in circumstances, whether they might miss out on something, or whether there is a personal cost.
Is this difficult? Yes. It’s so difficult that James wrote: “my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your ‘yes’ be yes and your ‘no’ be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation.”[1] To James, keeping vows was so hard that it was something to be avoided. So…
“O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?”
Who? Jesus, the only one who ever kept all of their vows and promises, and offers His righteousness to us, both as a means for our salvation, but also as a model for us to follow. He alone has fully done what is necessary for anyone to dwell in God’s presence.
In many Psalms, the authors complain about the evils in the world and compare them with God and His perfect attributes. Psalm 12 is one of these, and begins with David lamenting the ungodliness he sees in the world in the first verse:
“Save, O LORD, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.”
What is David so upset about? James 3:7-8 tells us: “For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.” David is upset by people’s inability to “tame the tongue,” which he describes in verses 2 through 4:
“Everyone utters lies to his neighbor; with flattering lips and a double heart they speak. May the LORD cut off all flattering lips, the tongue that makes great boasts, those who say, ‘With our tongue we will prevail, our lips are with us; who is master over us?’”
David says the words of the unfaithful are lies, flattering, duplicitous, boasting, proud, and rebellious. These adjectives also describe much of what we see and hear today, and if we’re honest, much of what we say. How often do we say things just because they came to mind? And if they are bad things, but we get away with it or get something we want from it, are we emboldened to continue? After all, “no human being can tame the tongue.”
There is One, however, who has tamed the tongue. David contrasts His words with ours in verses 6 and 7:
“The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. You, O LORD, will keep them; you will guard us from this generation forever.”
These words are pure, refined, purified, kept, and preserved. The number seven in the Bible is often used to indicate perfection, so if His words are “purified seven times”, they are perfectly considered and constructed before they are delivered to us. God keeps all His promises, and His word never expires.
Even when the world is full of people who speak ungodly words, the Lord’s words are pure and can be trusted. Because of this we know He will “guard us from this generation forever.” Someday our words will be like His words.
Years ago, I heard a sermon illustration about a parent looking out the window and seeing their kids playing with a skunk. Naturally, they yelled out to the kids “get away from there and come inside!” The kids quickly came inside but brought the skunk with them! The point of the story is that when we want to help others, sometimes their problems become our problems. There is a cost to truly loving others.
The same principle comes out of the parable of the Good Samaritan. In the well-known parable a man is robbed, beaten, and left for dead on the side of a road. First a priest, and then a Levite, passed him by. But a Samaritan, a member of a group despised by many Jews, stopped and helped the man. This help had a significant cost, as described in Luke 10:34-35:
“He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’”
Here’s a list of what the Good Samaritan provided for the man in these two verses:
Likely some kind of cloth to bind the wounds. He likely tried to use the cleanest cloth he had with him and ripped or cut it as needed.
Oil and wine, which he “poured” on the man’s wounds. He is more concerned about treating the man than about pouring out too much.
A ride on his own animal. The Samaritan walked alongside, giving the man the more comfortable trip to the inn.
Money. Denarii is the plural of denarius, which was about a day’s wages for a laborer. The Samaritan spent at least two days wages (“two denarii”) and promised to pay more if needed.
Ongoing care and concern. The Samaritan promised to pay “when I come back.” He was going to make a return trip to the inn to check up on the man.
Contrast this to the priest and Levite, who both “passed by on the other side” to avoid being contaminated by the man, who appeared dead. The Samaritan was more concerned about providing help than about whether he would become ceremonially unclean.
Loving people often has costs, including significant ones and ones we don’t anticipate, like the skunk that ended up in the house in the opening example. While we can’t help everyone in need that we come across, and we’re unlikely to come across someone beat up and left for dead, “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace, be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?” – James 2:15-16
“No one can do everything, but everyone can do something” – Max Lucado
It’s become cliché to say social media brings out the worst of people, since they can hide from consequences behind internet anonymity and distance. Mike Tyson, one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, said “Social media made y’all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.” But disrespect and wanting to punch people in the face who disagree with us is nothing new. Just one generation after Adam and Eve were made in the image of God and living in perfect love, their son Cain killed his brother Abel for uncertain reasons. Genesis also doesn’t tell us exactly how Cain killed Abel, but we can be sure social media wasn’t involved. Hate doesn’t require an internet connection or working Wi-Fi, only one person deciding that another person is a thing to be defeated, not as a person made in God’s image. Sometimes by focusing on what we are disagreeing about, we can lose sight of the fact that the person disagreeing with us is inherently valuable.
Today, after months away, we return to a series on James 1:27, which says: “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” James gave careful thought to this phrase, not as hyperbole, but as an example of what perfect religion – worship of God the Father – looks like. Eternal life is for people who love when there’s nothing more at stake than the person being loved, but putting issues above people is one way we get stained by the world and fail to represent Christ. Note that I didn’t say ignore the issues – it’s a question of priority.
The Singular Person Psalm 113 is a Psalm about praising God and making Him known throughout the world, and ends with a very specific praise:
“He gives the barren woman a home, making her the joyous mother of children. Praise the LORD!”
To me, what’s most striking here is that this is a singular barren woman, not barren women as a group. It doesn’t say that God ends all barrenness (although He might). The Psalmist chose as a climactic ending to this poem about the heart of God and how He wants to be known a praise to God for giving a home and family to one barren woman. This means that the sovereign God of all the universe is concerned about individuals, their specific circumstances, and their specific need for salvation. He does not respond to an “issue” of the barrenness of women but responds in a way that satisfies the needs of individual people. People are not statistics to Him, to be counted and divided into opposing sides until one prevails over the other. Each person’s needs and path to redemption are unique in God’s eyes, and only He can provide for all. He is the only way to a perfect world.
Similar to the “barren woman”, James 1:27 is about visiting specific “orphans and widows,” not fighting for the end of all afflictions for all widows and orphans. He is fighting for people, not total victory in an argument. While this might seem obvious to some, it’s so easy to exalt issues over people that we don’t always notice when we do it.
The Issue of Family A common issue today is “family,” which I put in quotes because as an issue it doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone. A lot of time and energy is put into fighting for “family values,” defined many different ways, and James 1:27, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world,” is relevant in multiple ways.
First, an earlier post of this series, said “whatever its source, civil law is a provision for a fallen world, not a pathway to a perfect world.” In both the Old and New Testaments, God tells us there will always be poor in the land and that every civil law is inherently limited in a broken world. Christians should “defend the family,” but in what way? James 1:27 says to stand for individuals for whom the institution of family has already failed – widows and orphans. “Pure and undefiled religion” succeeds where law fails, filling the gap with the heart of God, who cares for the specific “barren woman” of Psalm 113:9. There is no perfect law that solves the issue of “family values,” therefore “visit orphans and widows in their affliction.” Affliction comes in many forms and is too complex and diverse for any government to deal with entirely.
Second, when we fight for perfection in our laws, taking absolute stands on either side of an “issue,” we risk elevating law to a level it’s not possible of achieving, and we also may justify hurting people in the process, thinking the end result will be worth it somehow. Once we see the world in fully black/white, either/or terms, it becomes easy to think that if only the right side came out ahead, the issue would be resolved, any collateral damage can be explained, and everyone would be happy. However, consider the extreme example of violence around both abortion clinics and crisis pregnancy centers. In that case and many smaller ones, when we cause harm to opponents, we prove that there are cracks in our own system, creating new victims on top of the existing ones. Those left behind haven’t been helped, but new affliction has been added by those hoping it will be somehow worth it to win the “issue” battle.
Third, ministering to widows and orphans keeps us from the pollution of the world which insists that our salvation is political and based on power. James 1:27 encourages us to reject a world that wants to put laws, culture, even hashtags above actual people. The world too often believes the ends justify the means because belief in worldly utopia depends on a 100% solution, but also believes it’s ok to ignore concrete problems while fighting for a solution that will never arrive. Salvation comes from only one source: the cross.
In the start of this post, I wrote that it’s become cliché to say social media brings out the worst of people, and its cliché because massive amounts of time and energy go into fighting over abstract issues and dividing into groups of “us” and “them”. James 1:27 says that we are not defined by which side of an issue we support, and what we’re willing to do to achieve victory for our side, but by how we love those individuals for whom this world has failed.
It is better to minister to the ones who have been punched by this world than to add another punch to the damage.
Therefore, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” – Hebrews 10:23-25
And what are “good works”? “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 