What shall I pray for?--

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For I am lost without Thee.

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All else but Christ is quicksand.

"Lead me to the Rock

{

I am a sinner; He did no sin.

that is higher than 1:"

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I am a son of Adam; He is the Son of God.

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I am mortal; He rose again.

What is my ground for prayer?--"Thou hast." God has been a shelter and a strong

What will be the result?--I shall "abide". I will "make my refuge under the covert of

His wings".

The Scripture declares the "a double minded man is unstable in all his ways"

(James 1: 8). This is plainly true in the ordinary walks of life, and the Scriptures utter a

warning that we do well to heed.

The "doublemindedness" of this verse is answered by the "wavering" of verse 6. "But

let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea,

driven with the wind and tossed"; and the "liberality" of verse 5, "God that giveth to all

men liberally, and upbraideth not". The state of unstableness is easily recognized in the

figure of the tossing sea, but the contrast of "liberally" with doublemindedness may not

be so evident.

The word rendered liberally is haplõs, which means "simply, i.e., in simplicity with a

readiness of heart, answering to the need without a second thought; simply, without a

thought behind, freely" (Dr. Bullinger's Lexicon and Concordance). "He that giveth, let

him do it with simplicity" (Rom. 12: 8). In both cases the idea conveyed is that there is

no double motive, there is nothing behind the gift. It will be seen therefore that the

doubleminded man is in contrast with the Lord.

In chapter 4: 8 James says, "Cleanse your hands ye sinners; and purify your hearts,

ye doubleminded". From this it appears that not only is the double minded man unstable

in all his ways, but also needs his heart to be purified, indicating thereby the seat of the

trouble. Not once, nor twice, but constantly, we shall need to breathe the prayer, "O

Lord, give me singleness of heart". How easily we confuse "soul and spirit" (Heb. 4: 12),

how easily the old nature can be mistaken for the new, if our eye is not single.