The Everyday Prayer

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 11:10-32 (day three)

“They set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan.” 

A death within the family of Terah ushered in a restlessness that fueled a movement westward.  They didn’t go as far as they had envisioned; loss seemed to weigh them down, and the name of their stopping place reflected the memory of the brother and son whose death so deeply etched their lives with grief.  Wanderlust would continue to roil Abram’s life, and into that nomadic spirit God would speak.  Restlessness was not a bug, it was a feature through which God worked to establish a people and a promise.  Sometimes discontent isn’t ingratitude, but rather an honest question: Where is God?

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 11:10-32 (day two) Terah became the father of Abram vs. 27b

Often we spend our lives trying to be the one. You know, the one who cures cancer, or the one who breaks the record, makes the money, invents the machine, etc. We live in a place that encourages doers. As a people we are achievers, dreamers of dreams, risk takers.

What if that isn’t your assignment? What if, your job is to parent the one, and not be the one? What do we know of Terah, of Jesse, of Joseph? Their role was not to be a father of nations, the king of Israel, or the savior of the world. Their role was to shepherd the one who would be.

What if the child for whom you have prayed has an assignment that shapes the world? Does that diminish yours? Not in the least. The tears, the prayers, the guidelines you set forth for them will be the framework for who they become. Shape them well. Their story is yours.

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 11:10-32 (day one)

“Terah took Abram his son. . .and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan.”–v 31.

It has been rocky so far.  The relationship between God and men.  First, a flood to destroy the world.  Afterward, things aren’t much better.

Swiftly the race of men drifts away from God.  They (we) build cities and towers without any reference to God’s will or word.  Seeking glory for themselves, they begin to experience His active opposition.  (Genesis 11:1-9.  Last week’s lesson)

Then, a new thing begins!  Hopeful.  History-changing!  The story of God telescopes down to a single life.  Abram. The rest of Genesis, and the Bible, and history and eternity tells the story of this life.

Many travel the wide road that ignores God and seeks success apart from Him.  Only a few (and sometimes only one) travel the narrow road that believes God.  And the world is never the same!

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 11:1-9 (day seven)

Consider, please, the promises and warnings of God’s word.

1) God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  James 4:6. Genesis 11. He actively and deliberately hinders the efforts of people who seek to make life make sense without Him.

2) God blesses those who meditate on His word (in order to obey it).  Psalm 1.  What happens in my head matters.  What happens in my heart matters more.  “The eyes of the Lord search to and fro over the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His.” 2 Chronicles 16:9.

3) Ultimately, all projects are judged against our motives for doing them.  Genesis 11.  Hebrews 4:12.  Is this about God?  In line with His will and word?  It is really about me, my needs, my name?

Important and helpful question–Can God bless what I am trying to build?

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 11:1-9 (day five) 

If Genesis 11 is read apart from Genesis 9 and 10, some theologians argue that the reader misses valuable context. God tells Noah in Genesis 9, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth”. Genesis 10 appears at first read, to communicate that man was following God’s command. (Genesis 10: 5, 20, 31) So, why the sudden rebellion?  Were they following God’s purpose in chapter 10? Perhaps the sequence is out of order.

Genesis 11: 1-9 might become clearer to process with the possibility that this passage explains why and how the people groups were scattered (by region and language). Just like Genesis 2 gives clarification and explanation to Genesis 1, Genesis 11 might help us understand Genesis 10 better. Perhaps, only the results of God’s punishment are being described in chapter 10, and chapter 11 explains both man’s rebellion and God’s punishment in detail.

The Good News: God continues His sovereign plan in spite of the rebellion and punishment of the human race. See Matthew 28 (Make disciples of all nations).

 

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 11:1-9 (day four)

Verse 6 – “And this is what they began to do…”

Verse 6 infers that this decision or direction was wrong and that there was another…correct… direction to go.  There was a better choice.  Have you ever done that?  Have you ever made a choice that was the wrong choice?  The people at Babel were seeking to establish their legacy and memory as a great people.  They sought to have a kingdom to be worshipped.

Often, our decisions seek to supplant God.  We want to make our own choice and to be the one who is in charge.  We may outwardly say we are just offering another alternative or maybe we have better information to make the decision with, but we really just want it our way!  Do we really think we know better than God?  Submission to authority is very difficult for us humans.  We see it as a sign of weakness.  In reality though, to submit to God’s authority is the very foundation of a character of strength…it is always the right choice!

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 11:1-9 (day three)

“Nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.”

Is the Lord threatened by the race of men growing too powerful?   Well, the Bible tells us the Lord laughs and scoffs at the wicked, so…no.  Rather—once again—his mercy speaks, and his grace acts.  If men act independently from God in a grasp at godhood, all plans of their hearts will be evil, and all evil will be possible, yielding destruction and death.  The Lord checked this runaway volition.  The human race will survive despite our best attempts to decree, “Our will be done.”  Why?  Because God will not be thwarted.  In his mercy, God preserves his creation.  In his grace, God says to us, “Live!”

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 11:1-9 (day two)

They said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, otherwise we will be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” vs 4

Isn’t this story familiar? Maybe not the building of a tower to reach into heaven, but the idea of making a name for themselves was not a new one. God had commanded Noah to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth. Humanity post-Noah was on a different trajectory. Stick together, we can figure it out for ourselves. We don’t need God or stories of a Garden and a Flood. The idea of confusing and scattering was to force man, once again, to look up. To surrender to a God that was greater than anything built on earth. We build our own towers, don’t we? We strike out on our own determined to figure it out, to make a name for ourselves. Take care to start building your own tower without getting a permit from God first.

Re:Verse reading–Genesis 11:1-9 (day one) 

It is a strange story.  Often misunderstood.  We call it “the tower of Babel”, but it is really about oneness.  “Behold, they are ONE people and they all have ONE language. . .nothing will be impossible for them.”–v 6.

In John 17:20-21, Jesus talks about a different (and better) oneness.   “I do not ask for these alone, but for those who believe in me through their word; that they may all be ONE; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I am in Thee, that they may also be IN US; that the world may believe that Thou didst send me.”

True oneness is with God, Himself.  It comes when the human race ceases its rebellion and is reconciled to God and His purpose.  Jesus, as a perfect example of humanity, was ONE with the Father.  We are to be like Him!

Without this surrender, the gathered unity of mankind is dangerous and counterproductive.