Genesis 10-12

How we view God strongly impacts how we understand the Bible. For example, if we view God as a detached, domineering, uncaring divine being, we read the historical account of the Tower of Babel as a god who realized his creation is encroaching upon divine glory and out of insecurity, frustrates their progress. However, we know the the God is none of those things. He is only loving, caring, merciful, perfect in every way! I object to the view that God is all about judgment in the OT and about forgiveness in the NT. He is only always about forgiveness. All the judgment in the OT and the NT is only every motivated out of love to bring people to repentance so that we might know His forgiveness!

Something I saw this morning that I have not noticed before is that the statement in the account of the building of the Tower of Babel that they wanted to "make a name for themselves" mirrors the blessing that God would soon speak over Abram. The very thing for which they longed to have was an integral part of the blessing that God spoke over Abram. Read the two together and compare.

I love Ecclesiastes 3:11 where we read that God has put eternity in the hearts of men. There is something present in us that longs for all that God has in store for us. Where we misstep is the same as those in the planes of Shinar, we take matters into our own hands. The only way we should ever hope to have a name made for ourselves is as we make a name for God in our world! Any fame we muster should only be through our efforts in making Him famous among everyone within our sphere of influence!

Pastor Fred

p.s. - Lesson number one to husbands out of Genesis, no lying about your wife being your sister!