Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

Their own happiness is at stake! In order to achieve this they pull out all the
stops. After all, when everything else fails, why not pray up a storm? 322
This self-centered attitude appears to have prevailed in Rachel. When
she is “beaten” badly by her sister in what turned into a childbearing contest,
then, and only then, does she turn to God (See Gen. 30:22 in the context of
Gen. 30:1-8 and Gen. 35:16-18). It certainly prevailed in Balaam as the story
and shipwreck of his life indicate (2 Pet. 2:15-16). Come to think about it,
what a vast difference with the section in the Sermon on the Mount, in which
Jesus exhorts his disciples to ask, and continue asking with the promise, and
therewith certainty, that they will receive (Mt. 7:7). It is the difference between
the Kingdom and its righteousness and the evil empire of lustful, selfcentered
desires, and ultimately between heaven and hell! Ironically, God is
known to have answered even the second type of horrifying prayer. But this
should be small consolation, since it is not beyond him to send the judgment
of a spiritual starvation diet right along with a physical cornucopia. God’s
“yes” in those instances virtually disappears behind God’s simultaneous and
thunderous “NO.” Some episodes in the history of Israel provide an intriguing
and eloquent witness to this effect (Phillips, 132, with reference to Psalm
106:14-15). So, once again, does the life of Rachel. She ultimately dies in
childbirth!
At any rate, James infers that his addressees are sadly self-seeking in
their motivation and objective. Their prayers are not God-centered (Gal.
2:19). They serve their own self-gratification (Prov. 7:14). James condemns
this kind of prayer approach. Asking in a self-serving manner precludes any
true blessings. In short, the meaning is, “You ask and do not receive, and
even if you ask, you still do not receive, because you desire to gratify yourself,”
that is, to squander it upon your desires (Laws, 173; Moo, 1985, 140,
both with reference to Lk. 15:14). 323 In James 1:6-8 prayers fail because they
are wishy-washy. There is doubt and a consequent wavering, whether grave,
lingering, or otherwise, either about God (Would he answer my prayer?), or
about one self (Why would he answer me?), about the content (Do I truly
322 While all commentators by and large agree on the interpretation of James 4:2c-3, there is
no consensus that the change in the Greek voice supports this. Most believe that the active
voice is a conscious reference to Matthew 7:7. At the same time, some hold that the shift in
voice is only stylistic in nature (Martin, 147), and not a shift in meaning (Moo, 142, with reference
to Mt. 20:20-22; John 16:23-26, although he concedes that Mk. 6:22-25 supports the
possibility of such shift). However, the skill with which James uses the language seems to indicate
otherwise (So also Zodhiates, II, 230-231).
323 According to Brosend, 108, “The verb ‘to spend’ (dapanao) can be used neutrally for financial
(Acts 21:24; James’ instructions to Paul) and emotional (2 Cor. 12:15) expenditures,
but can also suggest a certain kind of squandering, as in the story of the prodigal (Lk. 15:14),
a sense here reinforced by the reference to ‘pleasures.’”
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