Genesis 10-11:9

Genesis 10-11:9

During this time, people were settling on their own lands. One specific group settled in the land of Shinar. They sought their own human ways. They sought out ways to do what *they* wanted to do, just as we so often do. I have been thinking about ways we try to do things our own ways instead of trusting in God and His will. We choose to be disobedient and say "no" to God. Maybe it is because we do not want to wait. Or, we do not like our circumstances. We become tempted to "force" something that we really wanted to happen. IE) Like sticking together as a group. Whatever the "excuse" may be, we choose to not trust Him and follow our own destructive paths.

For these people, they sought to steal God's holy glory. They committed the same sin that Eve did. This is 100 years after the flood, and they cannot learn from the traps that others have fallen into. They cannot seem to learn from the sins of others that resulted to the great flood. The people chose to make for themselves an idol (the tower), and follow their own whims that will lead to destruction and the nightmare they wanted to avoid: scattering among the nations. If only, they chose to follow God wholly! God is full of wisdom and power; He always knows what is best!

 

Their desire: "They said, "Come, let's build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world." (Genesis 11:4)

Something noteworthy: Their desire is not much different than what the serpent whispered to Eve: "But the serpent said to the woman "…. God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:5) In a way, they sought to be like God. They sought to steal His glory. They sought to change what may be happening to them, even though they had absolutely no control. Instead, they should of submitted to God: seeking Him!

Application

It is the idea of wanting to take our entire lives into our hands instead of trusting Him. For those in the land of Shinar, they sought to take their lives in their own hands. They wanted to be "famous", in hopes that they will not be separated. God exercised judgment. He did not deal with them according to their sin. If he had, it would have been much worse. When God came down to see what the people were doing, it was not out of fascination, but to be just and merciful. He knew the intentions of their hearts. They sought to do evil. They did not want to trust God; they wanted to do evil in hopes of getting what they wanted. He stopped them from their plan to become "great" (great in the world's eyes is nothing compared to the greatness of God). He confused their language, so they would not be able to understand each other. God judged justly.

Pondering

When we get together with others, it can be very tempting to sin and not seek out God. This is why God confused the language. God continues to give us chance after chance. We need to SEEK Him! We need to TRUST Him! God knows what He is doing. We need to trust Him, seeking ways to draw ourselves closer to Him. Bottom line: Trust Him! We may be waiting for certain prayers to be answered (healing; future mate; job; etc), but in the meantime while we wait we need to rely on Him. He may have a bigger yes in store for the future. Our "not right now" answer to prayer may be for our ultimate good (Romans 8:28). Quit screaming and whining: trust Him. Come to Him. Realizing He is GOD, He is Sovereign. He wants the absolute best for us. We need to keep trusting Him. Keeping Him at first, not letting "desires" get in the way. Our desires can draw us further away from Christ!