The first 11 chapters of Genesis tell the tragic tale of humanity. What started out as perfect, as God bringing order to chaos, breathing his life into creation, was ruined by Adam (whose name means human) and Eve choosing to go their own way. Each time after that whether it was Cain, Lamech, or whoever, each time they choose their own way, they move east. Pretty soon violence and evil, with two notable exceptions in Enoch and Noah, corrupt every human heart to the point that God decides to start over again. So he does, and he makes a covenant agreement that he would never destroy life like that again. He tells Noah and his family to be fruitful and multiply and spread out. Then we get to chapter 11. The people have multiplied, but they stay together and move east. East. Again, away from what God intended. They decide to build a tower reaching far up into the heavens in order to make a name for themselves. We have to get into the Hebrew mindset to understand the picture painted by the storyteller in Genesis. The Hebrew mind saw the world in three tiers - the underworld called sheol, the earth where we live, and the heavens where God reigned. So when the people want to build a tower of brick to the heavens, they were saying we want to be where God reigns. We want a name for ourselves. In other words, they wanted to be God. Where have we heard this before? In the garden, when the serpent tempted Eve, he said if she ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, she would be like God. It is the same temptation. Humanity has not learned. One of my favorite pictures of God comes from this passage. God is up in the heavens, hears about this tower humanity is building, and decides that he has to come down to see it. The picture portrays God as so big and vast, that he cannot even see what the humans are doing. He literally has to come down to see it because it is so small compared to him. We always have to remember that we have a big God, a God who is much bigger than us. One of my big faults is to take control of my own life, instead of putting the God of the universe in the drivers seat. I think God gives us a lot of room for us to decide, but ultimately, our job is to follow God and participate in what he is doing and his kingdom in this world.
God, help us to be kingdom focused people. Help us not to build our own kingdoms and try to make a name for ourselves. Rather, help us to bare your great name.
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This is really the core of the bibles direction for me. For so many years I tried to make things happen and change how others did things or thought. I was put in charge of many people and many important things but in the end I realized I wasn't in charge at all. God is so big we really can't concieve of how his plan drives all of us. Once I decided to let God lead and I would do my best to follow his direction things become much easier and simplier in my life. I finally realized there was a overall plan and I was just a very small part of it. It's a real big plan and a good one to accept.
Throughout scripture we are reminded of the Trinity - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In verse 7 of Chapter 11 it says, "Come, Let us (the Trinity) go down and confuse their language, so they will not understand each other."
Each moment of each day I want to be reminded of the Trinity. God the Father loving me and showing me mercy and forgiveness, God the Son interceding on my behalf to the Father, and God the Holy Spirit convicting me of sin, helping me pray and always pointing me toward the Son. How blessed I am!
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