Tsunami Safe Area ?
I always enjoy the Tsunami Safe Area signs that you seen on Hawaii. Every time I see them, I wonder how they know how big the next tidal wave will be. I've seen some big waves on the California coast, been tossed about by a hostile sea in the Atlantic, and been afloat in the Sea of Japan when it was smooth as glass. A wave is a strange thing. I always look for Diamond Head when I see a picture of Hawaii, Mount Fuji if I fly over Japan, or as my son describes it, the pole that mom hit whenever I'm at Camp Pendleton. For some reason, I have never returned to look for a wave that I had seen at Waikiki Beach or that had come onto the deck of the U.S.S. Juneau. Waves are momentary. They rise, are tossed about by the greatness of the sea, and then die a seamless death without memorial or have their amphibious invasion repelled by patient shoreline. No man would dare steer his course by the Wave of Gibraltar.
James tells us that if we lack wisdom, we should ask God for it, and He will give it to us generously without regard to our faults. This gift of wisdom is conditional. It requires that we believe and not doubt. James describes the doubter as a wave on the sea and tells us that such a man should not expect anything from the Lord. Such an individual is double-minded and unstable in all he does. James is telling us that if we go to God only as our backup plan, we have wasted our effort. God will not be second in your life. When you come to God, He doesn't expect to be part of your risk management plan. He is your risk management plan. God is your rock of refuge and you need not turn anywhere else. There is no God Plus. A plan that generally follows God, but has a few contingencies just in case He forgets something, is no plan at all. God does not subsidize doubt.
Faith works at 100% strength and James is telling us that the 85% solution that works in this world doesn't work with God. We are to believe God as we are to love Him--with all our heart and soul and mind. Then, what we ask will be given to us. Until then, we are but a wave tossed about the sea.
If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does. James 1:5-8 (NIV)
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