All throughout my high school years in seminary classes--and even more so since serving a mission--I have read James 1:5 countless dozens of times. Honestly, I've even gotten tired of reading it so much that I've skipped over it in the past, jumping from verse 4 to verse 7. It's a great passage of scripture, but overworked. So when we came to this part of the New Testament in class, I sincerely hoped we wouldn't dwell on it for too long, that horse had been beaten to death a long time ago.
But of course, the things we need to hear tend to be the same as the things we don't want to hear.
The general authorities have taught that when we ask the Lord something in prayer, there are three typical answers we will receive: yes, no, and silence. I had also heard this before, but what Bro. Griffin said next really caught my attention--the implicit principle in that teaching is that the best kind of question to ask the Lord is that one that is well enough researched, and ready enough to be acted upon, that all we need is a simple yes-no confirmation.
Verse 6 contains the quintessential "Let Him Ask in Faith." Note that Joseph didn't just read the scripture, feel inspired, and then pray--that wouldn't have been enough to result in the First Vision. By his own account he read and pondered it again and again. "Some of the best sermons we will ever hear will be thus prompted from the pulpit of memory--to an audience of one." --Neil A. Maxwell
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