Many believers are really good at taking Scripture out of context. They pick a verse that they assume fits their situation and claim it as theirs. However, to really understand God’s Word, we must learn to let Scripture interpret Scripture, and not allow our desires or laziness to delve into the Bible. One of the verses frequently taken out of proper use is James 4:2, which says, “You do not have because you do not ask God.”
I’ve heard believer after believer use that small verse to justify praying and asking God for a lot of ungodly or unnecessary things such as a Mercedes, winning the lottery, or even another person’s mate! The truth is we could take hundreds of verses in the Bible out of context to justify just about any behavior, desire or sin if we wanted to. However, if our hearts desires are really in the right place and we don’t want to be gravely disappointed, we must look for the real meaning behind that simple verse by looking at the verses that surround it.
“What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God” (v. 1-2).
Revelation of these two verses tells us that quarrels and fights occur because our expectations are of people to meet our needs opposed to asking God to do so. It’s in no way a license to ask God for any and everything our hearts want on a whim. Ephesians 6 supports this verse by telling us that we do not fight against flesh and blood (one another), but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of the dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil (Satan and his co-horts). So why do we fight and quarrel so much with other people?
Disappointment is always measured by expectation. For example, when you expect a believer to act like the Bible defines a believer to behave and they fall short, your disappointment is huge because your expectation was that they’d be perfect. However, if you tell yourself that believers all fall short and sin (including yourself), then your life doesn’t fall apart when someone fails you. This is not a reason to lower expectations, but simply an example of expectation and disappointment. When you realize that all things come from God, your expectations of your mate, children, employer and friends change and you no longer expect them to meet your needs, but God. It is possible that God will use people to fulfill your needs, but we must first go to Him and ask Him to provide for our emotional, mental, spiritual and physical needs and desires and wait to see how He does so.
Another reason we don’t get what we want is found on the other side of verse two in James 4:3: “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with the wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” A lot of believers mistakenly believed when they got saved that life was going to be a piece of cake from that point forward, and that life would be filled with flowers, balloons and ponies for the rest of their days, but Scripture tells us the opposite is true, that life will include suffering and heartache – specifically regarding our faith. This Scripture clearly says that life is not about “me” and the fulfillment of my pleasures. Does God want us to be happy? Yes. Does He really want to give us the desires of our hearts? Yes. However, Father knows best and He wants us to have that which is His will, glorifies Him, and matures us into the likeness of Christ Jesus. So much for the name-it-and-claim-it gospel.
In closing, I want to encourage you to make sure that when you repeat a verse that you are using it properly and not out of context because I want you to understand the truth and mature in Christ. Furthermore, I don’t want you to be deceived by your desires or the world’s theology that happiness is found in pleasure, because that’s a lie straight from the pit of hell. Always use God’s Word to interpret a verses meaning so that you can stand on the truth and walk in both righteousness and freedom, and so that your expectations are in line with God’s desires for you and you’ll never be let down. God’s Word promises that if we put our faith in Him instead of things or others we will always walk in truth.
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