No
Wavering Allowed!
You'll find the following definitions
if you look up the word “waver” in your dictionary: “Shake with a
quivering emotion, become unsteady or unreliable, undecided between two
opinions or courses of action, irresolute.” If we think of wavering in
terms of indecision or irresolution, all of us, at times, have wavered.
It might be as simple as indecision about two breakfast options,
something more weighty, like a car or house purchase, or whether or not
to buy shares in a particular stock. In other words, wavering is an
accepted part of our physical lives. It happens.
But in the spiritual realm, where a
man's walk with God is concerned, there are two specific areas in which
God allows no wavering whatsoever. In our King James translation, the
word wavering
is found twice. The words without
wavering have to do with our PROFESSION of faith in Christ
(Hebrews 10:23). The words nothing
wavering have to do with our PRAYER life (James 1:6).
Let's examine these passages.
In Hebrews 10:23, we read: “Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;).”
The phrase without
wavering is the translation of ἀκλινής (aklinēs), a
combination of the negative particle ἀ (without) and the
verb κλίνω
(klinō), “to bow, incline, recline.” Have you ever heard someone say he
was “inclined” to do this or that? He meant to say he was leaning toward one
option more than the others. In the book of Hebrews, the writer
repeatedly admonishes his Jewish readers (1) to remain steadfast in
their persuasion that Jesus Christ is the total sufficiency for their
spiritual needs, and (2) to avoid backsliding into a felt need to
re-embrace the Law as a necessary component of righteousness. The ONLY
inclination for any believer, whether Jew or Gentile, is the Lord Jesus
Christ. The believer should bow to (incline himself toward) Jesus
ALONE.
The admonition to hold fast the profession of our faith without
wavering
is rooted in the very nature and character of God, who
has made promises to the believer and is faithful to make good on
EVERY
one of them. An underlying theme in the book of Hebrews is
"the provocation”
(3:8,15). In Numbers 13, God sent twelve men to spy out the Promised
Land for forty days, to give them a taste of what he had promised. Two
of the twelve—Joshua and Caleb—reckoned God who promised the land was
able to deliver according to his promise. The other ten men saw the
apparent obstacles to conquest as TOO BIG for God and his promise to
overcome.
Instead of being inclined to believe
God and move forward by faith, they were rather inclined toward
unbelief and a return to Egypt. God's divine irritation and indignation
with the unbelief of that generation resulted in forty years of
wilderness wandering—one year for each of the forty days God allowed
them a glimpse of the glory to come—and the death of every Israelite
over age twenty at the time of provocation. For the professor of faith
in Christ, to waver is to repeat the error of Israel in provoking the
Lord. It's dangerous business!
In James 1:6, we read: “But let him ask in faith,
nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven
with the wind and tossed.” The word wavering is the
translation of διακρίνω
(diakrinō), “to separate thoroughly, discriminate, make a distinction.”
It is translated doubt
on five occasions. The idea is that of a petitioner dividing the
possibilities of prayer and into things he believes God CAN do and
those he thinks God CANNOT do. It's like parting the Red Sea and
placing what you believe possible with God on one side of the divide
and what you think impossible with God on the other. The word nothing is μηδείς (mēdeis),
“not even one.” In terms of our prayer life, the possibilities should
be a one-sided affair. NO wavering is allowed. There are NO exceptions,
not even ONE!
This dividing asunder of the CAN's
and the CANNOT's is dishonoring to the Lord Jesus, who said, “All things are possible to him
that believeth” (Mark 9:23). In addition, it leaves the
doubter vulnerable to the winds of life, which drive and toss. The verb
is like
is εἴκω
(eikō), “to be like, resemble, simulate.” The verb is a perfect tense,
signifying a permanent condition as long as wavering persists. The verb
is coupled with three predicate nominatives in the present tense. The
verbs driven
and tossed
are passive voice. An expanded translation: “For the one who is
continuously distinguishing between what God can and cannot do has
simulated a wave of the sea, one who is being continuously driven by
the wind and one who is being continuously tossed (by that same wind).”
We all know that winds determine waves. When a man doubts, he becomes a
wave driven by the wind. When he believes without wavering, he
determines (controls) the speed and direction of the wind in his
spiritual life. Which of these two options appeals to you?
The scripture prohibits wavering in
two key areas of our spiritual lives: our professing and our praying.
If and when wavering takes place in either realm, spiritual trouble
lies ahead. We can avoid wavering by (1) trusting God's faithfulness to
deliver on his promises in Christ, and (2) believing all things are
possible to him that believeth.
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