The Wisdom of Humility (James 4:1-10)

The key to the spiritual worldview, the wisdom from above that the Bible tells us to pursue, is humility. This should come as no surprise to those who have read the wisdom literature in the Bible. Proverbs starts out with the following admonition: 

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, 
Fools despise wisdom and understanding.” (1:7)

The idea that God is God, and we are not is at the center of true wisdom. When we pursue our own pleasures, plans, benefits, and ways we are engaging in the very rebellion that the Bible describes as the first act of sin. Doing things our way instead of God’s is not just evil rebellion. It is foolish. 

As stated last week, the kind of personal obsession over enemies—both perceived and real—that we see figures like Richard III, Nixon, and Trump doing, is an addictive practice. It is a cycle of reward and pleasure that traps us. We go from wrongs that might have been minor and unintentional but real, to creating wrongs out of whole cloth to obsess about. That is one of the prisons of sin. 

Instead, James tells us to let go of ourselves, our pleasures, and our unfulfilled desires. We should instead turn to God, submit to Him, and humble ourselves. He will do a much better job of supplying our needs and defeating our enemies than we ever could.