We’ve seen that complaining is the result of not fearing God. When we fear and live in close fellowship with Him, we will “abide satisfied” (Prov. 19:23). We will trust God and be thankful for what He, in His wisdom, has allowed in our lives.
If we don’t fear Him, if we don’t find our meaning, worth, and satisfaction in God, we will look to people and things to satisfy us. When those people and things fail to bring satisfaction (as they all ultimately will), we’ll complain.
We’ll also be tempted to quarrel. Our expectations haven’t been met. We’re not getting what we want and believe we deserve.
What mother doesn’t deal with quarreling children, and what mother doesn’t find herself tempted to quarrel with her quarreling children?
Assignment: Pray, thanking God for His love and sovereign control over every detail of your life. Ask Him to teach you from His Word today.
- Open Blue Letter Bible. We’re going to do another short topical study today. We’re going to study strife.
- Based on what you have learned in previous studies, do you remember how to look up a topical listing of verses? Can you find a list of verses on strife? Give it a try before you continue reading.
If you need help, here’s what you do: (1) Hover over the word “Study” in the upper menu bar. (2) Click on “Encyclopedias / Dictionaries” in the drop-down menu. (3) Click on “S” in the alphabet list. (4) Click on “St -” (5) Scroll down the list to the word strife, and click on it.
- Scroll down to the Nave’s Topical Bible listing. We’re going to focus on a few of the verses in the section entitled “Strife: General Scriptures Concerning”. Because our time is limited, we’re going to narrow our study to the verses from Proverbs, Romans, and James. Do not try to read all the verses listed in this section, unless you would like to do that additional studying.
As you read, organize your notes (along with verse references) under five headings in your notebook:
What sinful attitudes stir up strife?
What is strife compared to? (Look for the words like or as.)
What is the contentious person contrasted with? (The word but will help you recognize these verses.)
Instead of striving, how should we live?
What else is said about strife?
If you run into a verse that you don’t understand or don’t know where to list in your notebook, don’t worry about it. Just keep going. Our goal is to learn as much as we can about strife in a short amount of time.
We’ll spend today and tomorrow reading these verses. Remember, we’re only looking at verses from Proverbs, Romans, and James.
For your children:
Read aloud the story of Abraham and Lot in Genesis 13:1-12.
What were Abraham and Lot’s herdsmen disagreeing about?
What did Abraham do to settle the argument?
How could your children imitate Abraham’s example when there is strife between them?
Let the children either act out or illustrate this story. Getting their voices and/or hands involved will help them learn and remember.