Contention

May 10, 2022

"O Lord, my Lord, How Majestic is Your Name in all the earth!"

- King David, Psalm 8:1

"It's amazing how someone can break your heart and you can still love them with all the little pieces."

- Ella Harper

Psalm 8 sits like a shining oasis of peace in a troubled world of contention. In Psalm 7, David is crying out to God against a contentious adversary. In Psalm 9, David is thanking God for vanquishing that enemy. But… in between… is Psalm 8. It's the portrait of a God who has more power in His little finger than all that Mother Nature has in Heaven and on Earth. It's the description of a God who is not surprised by anything… who is not threatened by anyone… who is not unsettled by anything because He is in consummate control of everyone and everything in creation.

And, like David, I do find honest consolation in that. But, the problem is that it just seems so far from where my life is today. Have you ever experienced a massive gap between who God is and what you're going through?

You see, I have a contentious person in my life. My life today is Psalm 7. And I don't know if I'll ever get to Psalm 9, where the difficult person in my life is transformed from contentious to compatible. I also have a well-meaning friend who says I just need to take the Psalm 8 "pill" and praise God in my distress until the answer comes. And, as one famous theologian said, "DUH!" What does he think I've been doing?

I'm convinced there are some things in life that you and I just have to find a way to live with because they are not going to go away on this side of Heaven.

St. Paul had his "thorn in the flesh" and I have my contentious friend. And since I don't think God is calling him "home" anytime soon… (Smile)... I'm going to have to find a way to live with him… get along with him… forgive him… love him. Anybody have a contentious person in your life? You know, that person who's like heavenly sandpaper in your life? And it's not that they’re mean necessarily… they're just really good at pushing all your buttons… sometimes intentionally, sometimes not.

This week, I watched Candace set two rubber cups filled with Cheerios before my fourteen month old granddaughter, Dottie, and her two year old brother, Fisher. Dottie's cup is brown and Fisher's cup is gray… and they both had the same amount of Cheerios in them. Guess what cup Dottie made a play for? Looking directly at her brother, she reached past her own cup and grabbed Fisher's cup as Fisher yelled, "DOTTIE!" And Dottie smiled. (Ha!)

What is that? Contention! And here's the deal… Nobody had to teach Dottie that. She learned that all by herself… and so did I… and so did you! It's called Sin, and it just comes naturally. Why does that person in your life always have to be right? Why do they always have to have a story better than yours, a toy shinier than yours, a position nicer than yours? Why do they want "your" cup of Cheerios? Why? Because, in a competitive world, it makes them feel better… feel smarter… feel stronger… feel like they're winning more than losing. The problem is contention destroys peace, in me and in them, because it keeps that "Bone of Contention" in play. "Contention" was a town in the Old West where tensions mounted, rivalry's flared and gun fights broke out.