To pray for wisdom in a persistent trial is to pursue the ultimate cause of the problem.
At some point, many Christians go through a deep and long trial that no human effort solves, not even the effort of prayer. Naturally we wonder why. The story we explore today might be relevant for you. It shows you might need to pray differently. Instead of continuing to pray that the trial would end, you might need to pray for wisdom about the reason for the trial.
Persistent famine
The story is another from the life of King David.
2 Samuel 21:1 says: “Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, ‘[It is] because of Saul and [his] bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.’” (NKJV)
So David’s need, in fact the need of the entire nation of Israel, was food and water. They had been in a drought and famine for three years. That will get people’s attention. They had just enough supply each day to survive for years, but rainfall and food were minimal.
No doubt, David and the people had cried out to God for provision day after day, week after week, month after month, even year after year—for three years! That is over 1,000 days.
The reason famines came to the covenant people of Israel
Actually they understood the meaning of an extended famine. They had a clear theology for it: God gave rain when his people walked in covenant faithfulness, and God withheld rain when his people broke covenant with him by doing evil. It was as simple as that.
Centuries earlier, through Moses, God had told Israel:
“If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely.” (Leviticus 26:3–5)
On the other hand, if they did not listen to the Lord, he said:
“I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.” (Leviticus 26:19–20)
Pray for wisdom in a persistent trial
No doubt, David and many of the people had confessed sins already in general. But the rain had not resumed. So again, with his nation in the terrible grip of famine, “David inquired of the LORD.”
Rather than answering David’s prayer with rain, the Lord answered with wisdom. He told him specifically what sin had brought the famine and why it had persisted despite many prayers. David’s predecessor King Saul had broken a covenant that Joshua and the Israelites had made with a foreign people called the Gibeonites many generations before (see Joshua 9).
God watches over the covenants people make with one another, even ill-advised covenants, as this one had been (again see Joshua 9). He rewards covenant-keeping and punishes covenant-breaking.
So David, now knowing specifically what had caused the famine, gave the Gibeonites justice, “and after that God heeded the prayer for the land” (2 Samuel 21:14).
Persistent trials happen to holy people
However, applying this to our lives, it would be a serious mistake to conclude that every persistent trial we suffer results from some particular sin.
James 1:2–4 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when 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.” (ESV)
So trials come to all Christians, even the most holy of the saints. God allows trials to perfect us.
Therefore the only way to know if God is disciplining us for some particular sin (see Hebrews 12:5–11), for which we need to repent, that our own prayerful soul-searching has not recognized, is to inquire of the Lord, to pray for wisdom. And that is exactly what the very next verse tells us to do. James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
Takeaway
When we go through a deep and long trial that prayer does not solve, we need to pray for wisdom from God about the reason for the trial. Until we address the reason for some trials, they might persist.
If we inquire of the Lord, and he does not reveal sin in our lives, then we should go on trusting and enduring as James 1:2–4 instructs and not keep suspecting that we must have some hidden sin that is the root of the problem. Such uncertainty is debilitating. It weakens us. It kills faith and leaves us feeling chronically guilty and condemned.
Once again we see how important it is that we develop the ability to pray for wisdom. We need it to be able to know God and his ways, to work through problems and challenges with him, and to see his promises fulfilled in our lives.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)