Tower of Babel

Listen to today’s reading:

Genesis 11:1-4

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

Psalm 5:5

The arrogant cannot stand in your presence.
You hate all who do wrong;

John 6:38

For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.

Today’s Reading:

Every year, 64 college baseball teams chase hopes to become the year’s NCAA champions. Just imagine, what kind of tournament would it be if no one could win? That defeats the purpose of the tournament and the entire season, right? It probably wouldn’t be worth all the practice and effort. That is maybe a taste of how the people might have felt after the destruction of the flood. What’s the purpose of all this? All of the cities and dwellings of the old world vanished. All that work was gone. After the Biblical flood, surely Noah’s family and descendants felt the grace of God, but even though they were saved through the flood waters, they probably still had a hard time trying to figure out what they were doing and why. What can we do? There’s no doubt they were hearing stories of the old world before the flood, from Noah and his sons, and specifically of the Garden of Eden. The time when man walked with God in that perfect paradise seemed so out of reach now to them. By reading the story, it seems like they were tired of waiting on God and wanted the dog pile moment on the mound, or a taste of heaven, before the season was close to being over. In history, there is no other time that compares to Noah’s descendants trying to take back what they had lost and building their own version of a skyscraper. In this crazy story in Genesis, humankind sought heaven on their own by building a huge tower to reach up to God; probably unknown to them though, it was in complete and utter vanity. What is so amazing about this story is not that they were doing something that was in fact impossible, but that years later, at the right time, God would send glory to us when they were trying to reach for glory of their own. No, there would be no need to reach for glory on our own, but we just needed to wait on the glory of the Lord to come down to us in the person of Jesus Christ. Our works to get to heaven are worthless apart from God. It’s our pride that he hates. However, our purpose and the fruit of our work in Christ through the Holy Spirit is of eternal value. There is a huge difference. Be patient, because we win with Jesus, and there is no other way to get in on this dog pile without the Lord leading the charge.

Today’s Prayer Guide:

Praise – Praise God for sharing his glory in Jesus. Thank him for working for our good and for his glory.

Confession – Confess to God that you spend too much time on worthless works and your pride gets in the way of things that will actually last before him.

Ask – Ask God to invite you into purposeful work that will last into eternity and that he will give you a fire and passion to do it.