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Recently, while on a road trip for a ministry engagement, I was listening to a Christian radio station when I began to drive into a fuzzy area where a second radio station started competing for the same channel. You’ve probably been here before—that place where your radio is jockeying for two different stations on the same frequency. You go from singing “Bless the Lord Oh My Soul” to ear-popping static, to the “Devil’s Got a Hold on Me,” to more annoying static, and then back to “Bless the Lord Oh My Soul” again. Your radio receiver is picking up two separate channels on the same frequency.
It kind of sounds like a metaphor for life, doesn’t it?
What kinds of voices or messages are fighting for the frequency of your heart today? Are those mixed messages causing you to experience a form of spiritual static in your walk with God? Maybe you’ve got faith and doubt wrestling for the same territory in your life. What are you going to do about it?
In the New Testament epistle of James, believers are given some specific instructions on how to handle the spiritual static in our lives—especially during those enigmatic times of trials and hardships.
James says to: “Count it all joy, when (not if) you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. 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.” (James 1:2-8 ESV)
If we don’t know how to handle the static in our lives, we will become a double-minded people. Our lives become like a radio station going back and forth between two contradicting songs. James says the outcome of this double-mindedness is not only an unstable Christian faith; it leads to instability in all of our ways. If the static in our lives is met with unbelief and grumbling, trials can produce toxins of bitterness and resentment. However, when the static is met with steadfastness and perseverance, trials can prove to be a wonderful work of God in us.
Charles Spurgeon said, “I have looked back to times of trial with a kind of longing, not to have them return, but to feel the strength of God as I have felt it then, to feel the power of faith, as I have felt it then, to hang upon God’s powerful arm as I hung upon it then, and to see God at work as I saw him then.”
This text exhorts us that wisdom can navigate us through all the emotional noise and conflicting voices that trials tend to stir up in our hearts. The static may cause us to feel like God has “dissed” us or even abandoned us by allowing hardships to come our way. Yet we do well to remember that trials bring a necessary rhythm to our lives—the action of humbling ourselves, falling to our knees, and seeking God for wisdom that is way beyond ourselves.
James says when you do this, ask in faith, without doubting. It’s okay to let your doubts drive you to God. What seems to be the challenge is leaving our doubts with God. Scripture encourages us to come to God in faith, trusting that God will grant us the wisdom we need to rightly deal with the static of our lives, to boldly confront our doubts and fears, and to resolutely surrender our circumstances over to His will.
Don’t let the static in your life lead to a double-mindedness in your relationship with God. Consider the trial a joyful opportunity to see God flex His muscles in your life. Understand that the trial is maturing you so that you will be complete and lack nothing. Seek God for wisdom. Ask in faith, and leave your doubts right there with Him in the prayer chamber.
You don’t need to fully make sense of all the static in your life right now; you just need to know what to do with it. Remember that as you abide in Him today.
You don’t need to fully make sense of all the static in your life right now; you just need to know where to leave your doubts.