What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

                                                                                                                        James 4:1-3 

Quarrels, conflicts, and violence are all signs that people have abandoned the goodness of God’s provision and placed upon themselves the burden of attempting to do things their way. When we are not content with the Lord alone rather look to the world for our sense of pleasure and fulfillment, envy and strife are sure to follow. This is the context in which James answers the question, “Why do we not receive?”

We certainly have the promises of God in scripture that He is benevolent and willing to provide all of our needs if we will simply ask. Consider the words of Christ: 

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.

                                                                                                               Matthew 7:7-8 

In this context, Jesus is saying, “keep asking”, “keep seeking”, and “keep knocking.” The action of talking to God about our needs (and our wants) is to be continual. No, we do not have to “wear Him down” with our continual asking for He already knows what we need before we ask (Matthew 6:8). But He is instructing us to continue to pursue Him in our asking. In other words, include Him in every decision and with every need that we have and He will surely provide. “Everyone who asks receives.” He goes on to explain: 

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!

                                                                                                                       Matthew 7:11 

Jesus explains that He is benevolent and that He is a better provider than earthly parents are to the needs of their own children. For this reason, we should never forget the benevolence of God. But He will give us what is “good.” God will provide us with things that are useful, salutary (favorable to or promoting health), pleasant, agreeable, joyful, happy, and beneficial.

And it is for this reason that James gives us one of the two reasons why we do not receive (we will begin with the second reason). We do not receive because we “ask with wrong motives, so that we may spend it on our pleasures.” In other words, we often treat God like some sort of cosmic wish granter desiring to use our position in Christ for our own selfish gain. God will not grant us things that are destructive to our lives even when we believe that they are not. Asking in this self-centered way will not generate the benevolence of God because these requests come from a heart that is not completely satisfied in Him. Consider this truth explained in the Psalms:

Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart. 

                                                                                                               Psalm 37:4 

It is perfectly alright for us to have desires and, as believers, we can know that God will give us those desires as long as…and here it is…we delight in Him. To delight in God is not just to make Him the priority of our lives but it is to be satisfied in our relationship with Him. God can afford to bless a person with this outlook because they will not ask with wrong motives. We see this illustrated in another Psalm as well: 

How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.

                                                                                                                        Psalm 1:1-3 

Prospering in whatever we do is a tremendous part of being blessed by God but this kind of blessing comes only to those who “take delight in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night.” When our focus is on God continually, making Him the focus of our lives, we are blessed and “prosperity will follow in whatever we do.”

So when we ask with wrong motives (out of selfishness), we should not expect God to provide our destructive requests. But that is not the only reason why we do not receive. The next reason is one that I believe applies to so many Christians today.

We do not receive because “we do not ask.” Perhaps it is because we have been taught a certain way when we were growing up. Perhaps it is some sort of doctrinal belief that limits our acknowledging and understanding the tremendous promises of God. Whatever the case, I believe that many Christians simply live below the abundance that God has for them simply because they do not ask. Consider the promises that we found in the Psalms earlier, then consider the instructions of Jesus in Matthew, and then add to those passages the following truth:

For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

                                                                                                            Romans 10:12-13 

I do believe that the riches in which Paul refers are spiritual however the inclusiveness of this passage again reveals the benevolence of God. “He is abounding in riches for all who call on Him.” Imagine living without because we simply feel it wrong to ask. All the while, God is waiting to reveal spiritual riches to those who will simply “call on Him.” I believe this is the reality for many in the church simply because they do not feel right in asking. But scripture tells us that the God is benevolent and waiting to answer us as we pray in faith eliminating any doubt (Mark 11:24, James 1:5-8).

So the only question left to answer is, “Do we fit the criteria for not receiving from God as described by James?” Do we ask selfishly? Or are we not asking at all? May we go from this place to a life of delighting in God, understanding the fullness of His benevolence, and living in the abundance that He has already provided through His Son Jesus Christ!