I'll be preaching on James 1:2-8 in about a month and a half, and so I've started meditating on the text, especially the hard words at the end of it:
"But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways."
This is a hard word from the Lord, but on closer examination, we doubters are not left without hope here. The Greek word translated "unstable" in verse 8 is rare; it only occurs two other places in the Bible. James 3:8 says that the tongue is "restless" (same word in Greek), and Isaiah 54:11 uses the same word, holding out a remarkable promise that uses the same imagery of James 1:
"O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires."
James warns storm-tossed doubters, but carefully uses the same imagery and language of God's promise to those very same doubters, that if they will turn from their instability and plant their hope on God's foundation, they will never be moved.
This is God's word to doubting sufferers: "O afflicted one, storm-tossed by your fears, driven to despair and not comforted, yield command of your vessel and let your doubt be wrecked on the Rock of Christ! Load up your ship of faith with the ballast of God's precious and weighty promises, and do not jettison your confidence, which has a great reward. Entrust your safety to the Sovereign of the sea, who has infallibly promised to bring you through every storm of suffering safe to the eternal shore."
