Draw near to God and He will draw near to you….

James 4:8 “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.”

Many times I have heard this verse referenced during sermons, talks, or someone cited in their writings. However, reading the verse myself it shocked me how many times we leave out the rest of the text.

Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (James 4:8 ESV)

When you read the rest of the verse if you are like me your mood changes. It is not just walking to God and He will draw near to you. But it is so much more. When we read the rest of this passage

9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you. (James 4 ESV)

The passage seems to take an even more negative tone. We are supposed to morn…and turn our joy into gloom? How is this in any way making it appealing for me to draw near to God? If all I get is to lose my laughter and joy for gloom what is the point? Here is why we must read all of scripture, and as for those who are minister must teach expositional. Lets read verse 1-10

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask z wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? b Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit c that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But d he gives more grace. Therefore it says, e “God opposes the proud, but d gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. f Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 g Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. h Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and i purify your hearts, j you double-minded. 9 k Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 l Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:1-10 ESV)

This passages address those believers who are still in love with the world. James writes and calls who he is writing to adulterous people, murders, coveting people, spending foolishly what they have been given. In v.4 he says “Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world make himself an enemy of God.” These people, even though they have been given the spirit (v.5), they still worship the world. However, the writer gives them the formula to be able to resist the devil.

“Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you.” We are to submit to God the Father and the devil will flee. However, it will not be east. We are to wash our hands and clean purify your heart. We are to take our deepest desires that are engrained in us, and just wash them away. These statements remind me of when Christ proclaims, “that whoever follows me should take up his cross daily.” We are to take what pains us the most, what was the most degrading thing to human, and carry to follow Christ. Here James is calling to continue to wash and purify our hearts daily so that we can draw near to God. It is not just a peppy thing that someone says to encourage someone, but it is one of the hardest things that we can do. When we do this we are saying “I count all the things my heart desire as rubbish so that I can follow you God. Because I know you are greater than anything on this earth.” So take all your desire that you want…and through them out the window…yea this hurt.

So why are we suppose to morn? Because when you submit to God you realize the complete depravity of the human state, and you understand the true greatness of God’s wrath. So you become broken, and what once brought you joy (i.e. Sex, drugs, money, and what ever your heart worshiped) is actually what brings you death. So morn over the sin of the people, and weep because what they love and think is the savior of their life. Will actually bring about the eternal punishment.

However, we as believer are not suppose to walk around with our head down, and crying all the time. Here James write the comfort that we have. If we humble ourselves God will exalt us! THINK ABOUT THIS! God...The God…capital GOD…creator of the universe…will EXALT us!!!!! Rejoice, Rejoice, Rejoice because there is hope in our lives. Yes, we are to morn and pray for the lost and condemned. However, this should lead us to humility and joy. Because by the grace of God, He sent His Son to die on the cross and rose again, so that we now can even have purified hearts. Also has opened our eyes so that we can wash and purify our hearts and humble ourselves before Him. And in the end… we will be exalted for all eternity! I cannot help but thing of Psalm 150 read this and pray that with every breath we can praise the Lord for His redeeming love.