*These notes are from Keith Hodges*

#38 – What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. Your quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. (James 4:1-2)

NOTE: Any of you who have never fought (physically, verbally, emotionally) or quarreled, feel free to skip this devotional. Otherwise, try your best to give heed. I told you James was going to be practical; it doesn’t get any more practical than this! The fact that we all live in a world perpetually fractured by fighting and quarreling should rivet our attention on what James says is causing it.

Almost invariably our first reaction to any kind of disagreement or conflict is to blame the other person, group, country, etc. Even if we’re in that minority of people that can later say, “Well, it was my fault” or “as much my fault as theirs,” we’ll still belikely to first blame others the next time. [This reminds me of something Paul said when describing the general state of mankind, living in “malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.” (See Titus 3:3)] James says the cause is not everybody else, or circumstances, or even just plain bad luck—but us! When we feel ourselves at war, in ways large or small, the culprit is the war that’s already raging inside of us. It’s those dynamics being mentioned in this book: want (greed, materialism), selfish ambition, bitter envy, etc. [This reminds me of perhaps the most famous meme of the cartoon series “Pogo” – “We have met the enemy … and he is us!”]

NOTEWORTHY: I purposely included here “You do not have, because you do not ask God,” because it is a true word bridge, applying totally to what has just been said and what is about to be said.