We are to pray without doubting God.

We are to pray without doubting God. To question why God allows this or that is in itself doubting, not healthy doubting, but lack of confi­dence. The second point is what to pray for, which is wisdom. In difficulty we are to pray for wisdom, which is the ability to know the will of God even when we find ourselves in extraordinary circumstances, at times when we might be off guard. To pray for wealth, as is so popular nowadays, is not appropriate.

James's commentary defines some of the practical as­pects of the broad grace of God which could be misunderstood. 1:12-27 The Merciful The word `Merciful' refers to the particular grace or mercy of God in a specific case, time and individual. At this point James enters another area. He even rede­fines the word temptation altogether. At this point he begins talking about temptation to sin, which is something altogether different.

He did not tell us, for example, the source of the temptation he examined up to here. But beginning from verse twelve he talks about the temptation which has its source in lust, as the authorized King James Version of the Bible puts it. The meaning of the word temptation in verses 12-27 is the desire or attraction to do other than the expressed will of God. James makes two points about temptation of this kind. First of all, those who endure under it, will receive a reward.

Secondly, we are not to suggest that God is the source of such temptation. This is not, of course, to imply that God is the source of the former kind of trial either. But James gives a four-step development: 1) lust, which produces 2) enticement, which produces 3) sin, which produces 4) death. Each of these steps can be examined more closely. The first, lust, is at the level of what each of us is.

This can refer to natural, normal drives which have the potential of being directed toward inappropriate objects, or it can refer to abnormal and acquired drives, such as addiction. The second step is enticement, or the moment when a drive becomes conscious and is directed toward a specific goal at a specific moment. This is the point at which the tempta­tion enters our consciousness.

This is the point at which it is too late to pray, `Lead us not into temptation,' since at that point we are already in temptation. The third step, sin, is the point at which the choice is made to carry out the illicit desire and the act itself takes place.