Written by Uyoyou Christiana Charles-Iyoha
Contentions start with words, snowball into the
strife of tongues and escalate to fisticuffs and who knows what next – sorcery
as in the case of Moab, murder as in the case Cain and Abel, Joseph and his
brothers, Daniel and the satraps, Haman and Mordecai.
Strife and contention are akin to thorns and weeds
in a farm that pierce the plants, compete for nourishment and space for growth.
Strife and contention is the same as thorns piercing the plants – daily strife
and contention can erode confidence, faith and determination as well as
courage, the same function thorns perform to choke out life from plants. Strife
and contention can wear out your resolve to excel which explains why the best
solution to strife and contention is to always walk away from the strife and
contention. Like weeds, they also contend for space in your mental processes -
introducing bile such as anger, resentment, bitterness, unforgiveness that if
not wisely and instantly thrown out can block out productive, fruitful,
spiritually, physically, mentally and financially rewarding mental processes. So
rather than pay attention to your field, you expend energies fighting battles
you should not be fighting because you are paying attention to strife and
contention.
Isaac avoided contentions. Rather than contend with
the Philistines who closed up the wells dug by his father, he dug new wells and
when the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen over the new wells,
Isaac and his herdsmen dug other wells and when there was no more contention
over the new well, Isaac named the new well ‘Rehoboth’ meaning God has made
room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
