The other day, I was thinking about a particular topic and needed a Bible that had an exhaustive concordance, a tool that allows one to search for keywords in a text with the accompanying referenced passages. The Bible I was searching for was my wife’s and it was always located on her nightstand. As I opened the Bible, the pages opened to the book of Daniel, chapter 10, because something was nestled in the pages. There it was. It was my wife’s diamond engagement ring. Here is the actual photo of the Bible page with the ring indentation, on the concordance word contentiousness.
Contentiousness is the state of being in an argument or disagreement or having a tendency to quarrel and dispute. God’s message spoke very clearly to me. For a while, I was dismayed that my wife did not wear her engagement ring. She is a dentist and I understood that it was difficult for her to wear it given her frequent hand-washing and wearing of gloves. Yet, when she wasn’t working, I noted that she still did not wear her ring. When I asked her about it, she would always state that she forgot. Now, I suspected the real answer. I brought the ring to her and placed it on her finger.
She looked at me awkwardly and said, “Oh! Where did you find this?”
“It was in your Bible, on your nightstand. It fell out of the pages when I opened it.” I paused for a moment. “Did you think you lost your ring?”
“Uh…wasn’t sure.” She sheepishly replied. I was about to suggest that she lost her ring and was giving an excuse that she forgot to wear her ring but I stopped myself, remembering the Bible concordance reference. I smiled and said, “Well, now you can wear it.”
Like charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire, so is a contentious man to kindle strife.
Proverbs 26:21 (NASB)
My immediate reaction was to allow the incident to foment strife between us. God had other plans and I am thankful for His divine lesson and intervention in my life at a critical teaching moment.
Praise God!
Love and trust the Lord; seek His will in your life.
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