Nations go to war for many reasons: to gain more territory, to expand their religion, or to get revenge. But some scholars say the main reason most nations go to war is to get what another nation has. It might disguise its reasons for attacking, but underneath, it often hopes to receive some economic gain. The book of James chapter 4 asks and answers the war question this way: “What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it” James tells us that greed drives war and conflict—trying to get what we do not have. Long ago, God showed Habakkuk how greed and pride drove people into war. God spoke to say, “Wealth is treacherous, and the arrogant are never at rest. They open their mouths as wide as the grave, and like death, they are never satisfied. In their greed [the powerful] have gathered up many nations and swallowed many peoples.” Today, as individuals and as a nation, we must guard against pride and greed. They can lead to a great downfall.
