James 4:7 - 10 Just do it?

[johan777]

Jam 4:7 Therefore, submit yourselves to God. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you.

Jam 4:8 Come close to God, and he will come close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Jam 4:9 Be miserable/be afflicted, mourn, and cry/weep. Let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into gloom.

Jam 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

This portion of Scripture instructs us to humble ourselves before God. According to the Greek Grammar (Aorist Active Imperative) it is a command. Maybe the submit, draw near, cleanse and purify is possible, but then it goes even further and tell us to be afflicted, mourn and weep.


In practice, if I want to draw near to God and humble myself, does God demands of us to be miserable, start weeping and mourning even though we don't feel like it?


Does this corresponds to the Old Testament, where a King, Priest or Prophet had to rent their clothes, gird themselves with sackcloth .....? e.g.
2Sa 3:31 And David said to Joab, and to all the people that were with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner. And king David followed the bier.
Est 4:3 And in every province, whithersoever the king's commandment and his decree came, there was great mourning among the Jews, and fasting, and weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes.

Jer 6:26 O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes: make thee mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for the destroyer shall suddenly come upon us.

 

[muffler dragon]

I think the mourning and weeping comes from understanding that when we repent and fall before the Throne of G-d, we begin to see His Holiness and Truth. In contrast to that we see our filth, unrighteousness, and sin; which tends to make us mourn and weep due to our undeservedness. The joy that surpasses all understanding comes forth after our repentence, from this visible defilement of ourselves, because of the Grace of G-d and His outpouring of Love.

IMHO.

 

[LamorakDesGalis]

God does not demand that we need to be miserable in order to draw near to Him, only humble. The point of James is that believers ought to be humble when approaching God in prayer, not miserable. We can approach God in whatever emotional state we happen to be, including sadness, joy, concerned, even angry. These emotions are pretty evident in the Psalms.

Its good to see the commands in James 4 in context:
At the beginning of chapter 4 James asked his readers why they quarrel and fight with each other. In essence they were developing a "friendship" with the world that was anti-thetical to the Holy Spirit within. The source of this friendship was in the verse James quoted from Proverbs: sinful pride. James then gave 10 commands to his readers to overcome their sinful pride, for being "double-minded" - for attempting to seek the things of the world and the things of God at the same time. The "result" - humility - is the focus. In the context he also further denounced other sinful practices, including slander, "sitting" in judgment of others and boasting - all of which indicate sinful pride and not humility.


Lamorak Des Galis

 

[plmarquette]

look at 1 Peter 3.4 quiet , meek , humble , sincere spirit ... is of great worth to the Lord ... be honest about your shortcomings , seek his face , his help , his forgivenes

same as in Matthew 5 - those who hunger and thirst for righteousness sake ; who seek god first Matthew 6.33 , and the blessing of the covenant Deuteronomy 28.1-6

a condition of the heart ...

 

[johan777]

God does not demand that we need to be miserable in order to draw near to Him, only humble. The point of James is that believers ought to be humble when approaching God in prayer, not miserable. We can approach God in whatever emotional state we happen to be, including sadness, joy, concerned, even angry. These emotions are pretty evident in the Psalms.

How can you say that God only demands humility? There is no difference in the grammar in :
v7 submit yourselves
v8 draw near
v9 be afflicted
v10 humble yourselves

 

[LamorakDesGalis]

God does not demand that we need to be miserable in order to draw near to Him, only humble. The point of James is that believers ought to be humble when approaching God in prayer, not miserable. We can approach God in whatever emotional state we happen to be, including sadness, joy, concerned, even angry. These emotions are pretty evident in the Psalms.

How can you say that God only demands humility? There is no difference in the grammar in :
v7 submit yourselves
v8 draw near
v9 be afflicted
v10 humble yourselves

I base it on the context. The commands in verse 7 are introduced with a "therefore." "Therefore means the commands are based on something James just said. In he preceding verse 6, James quoted Proverbs 3:34 - "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." The commands James gave then are all meant to result in humility, in opposition to pride.

Also if James actually meant for the command "turn your joy into gloom" to apply at all times, then how would one explain what James wrote later in the letter? In James 5:13 he said:

"Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises."


Lamorak Des Galis

 

[johan777]

Jam 4:1 What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?Jam 4:2 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.Jam 4:3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend {it} on your pleasures.Jam 4:4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.Jam 4:5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: "He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us"?Jam 4:6 But He gives a greater grace. Therefore {it} says, "GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE."Jam 4:7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.Jam 4:8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.Jam 4:9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.Jam 4:10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.



The central thought in this passage is submit to God/Be humble before God. Why? Because of wars, fights, lust, wrong prayers, in short my friendship with the world has made me an enemy of God. What do I do? I submit myself to God. How?

By resisting the Devil

Humbling myself before God

Drawing near to God

Cleansing my hands

Purifying my heart

AND/ALSO

By lamenting/being miserable

Mourning

Weeping



What is my point? Humbling myself also includes lamenting, mourning and weeping. We usually concentrate on the other “requirements” for humbling. The fact is that I can’t produce these emotions just like that. However, to do/produce these three emotions is as much a command as the others, is it not?

 

[johan777]

look at 1 Peter 3.4 quiet , meek , humble , sincere spirit ... is of great worth to the Lord ... be honest about your shortcomings , seek his face , his help , his forgivenes

same as in Matthew 5 - those who hunger and thirst for righteousness sake ; who seek god first Matthew 6.33 , and the blessing of the covenant Deuteronomy 28.1-6

a condition of the heart ...

Dear plmarquette

a condition of the heart ... The passage under discussion (James 4: 1-10) is about people seeing that the condition of their hearts are "not good" and what to do about it, which according to my reading of the passage includes "Jam 4:9 Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom"