2 Tim 2:4 “A servant of the Lord must not quarrel”
The Greek word for ‘quarrel’ can also mean to engage in hand to hand combat and physical fighting. From a Scriptural perspective, a war of words and a physical fist fight are two sides of the same coin.
The news recently had a story about an out of control youth riot in Melbourne. While many of us would shake our heads at their riotous fighting, are we sometimes guilty of the same with our words?
Years back I had a series of dreams in which I was physically involved in a fist fight. The dreams puzzled me as I have never been one to get involved in a fight. Now I understand that the dreams were about the fact that I was still fighting people, wounding them and getting hurt myself. These fights were happening not by my fists but by my words. While I felt very justified in fighting these wars of words, ultimately as a servant of God I am not called to fight in this way – and the dreams were a warning to me.
If we are to be true servants of God, we must stop fighting people in our own strength. Let us not only stay away from fist fights and brawls, but let us also avoid wars of words in facebook, social media and even in our own family situations. As we do, God will not leave us defenceless. In fact, as we stop fighting, it gives Him room to show up – not to take sides, but to take over. He will protect us, He will defend us, but in the midst of it all, He will also deal with our hearts. As we stop fighting, then He gets the opportunity to also teach us the lessons we need to learn.
So as servants of God, let us stop fighting and quarelling, and let us simply let God fight our battles.
Enoch Lavender was born in Australia, raised in Norway, spent time living in China and is now based in Melbourne, Australia. He has been studying Hebrew and the Jewish roots of our faith for the past decade, and has a keen interest in the Middle East from a Bible prophecy perspective.
