“Draw Nigh to God”
The Apostle returns to “the jealousy and faction” of the previous chapter, James 3:14, and says that these evils are traceable to lust, that is, to inordinate desire. The restless inward war is the prolific parent of failure in speech and act. If we would pray more and better, we should soon find the inner fires dying down.
In James 4:5, r.v., margin, we learn that God has placed His Spirit within us, and that He yearns for complete control over our hearts. He can best overcome inordinate desire and teach us how to pray. God wants more of us. His love is insatiable in its yearning for every room and cupboard of our inner life, and He is ever wishful to give more grace.
There are four conditions which we must fulfill, if God is to have full possession:
1. We must be subject to the will of God, James 4:7;
2. We must draw nigh to God, James 4:8;
3. We must cleanse our hands and purify our hearts, James 4:8;
4. We must humble ourselves in His sight, James 4:10.
Then God will fill the soul, the sluice gates of which are open to Him.