Reading
- Gen. 11:1-9; 10:1-32; 11:10-32
Devotional
The descendants of Noah all spoke one language. They decided to make a city and a great tower. But they forgot to do one important thing: to ask GOD what He thought. During these days GOD talked directly with certain men known as patriarchs.
Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
(Gen. 11:3-4)
But GOD saw what they were doing, and He disapproved.
And the LORD said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city.
(Gen. 11:6-8)
There are several lessons we should learn from these events:
- Since GOD knows what is best and, thankfully, wants what’s best for us, it is always best to pray for His wisdom and guidance before making a decision.
- Recognize that when something is against GOD's will:
- There is nothing we can do to make it happen. He is infinitely powerful, and numerous times throughout the Scriptures we see GOD defeating man’s intentions through all kinds of ways.
- We should have no desire to be successful against GOD’s will in the first place.
- We should stop the moment it becomes clear to us that this is against GOD’s will.
- Since GOD doesn’t tell us specifically what He wants us to do, discovering His will for us can be difficult. We must be patient as we pray for GOD to make it clear what we should do.
- It’s critical that we make plans. We just have to remember to keep in mind that GOD may have different plans for us, and that isn’t a bad thing. Our attitude should be that of a servant waiting on His master to show him what he should do, all the while doing good to the best of his ability.
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.
(Jam. 4:13-17)
