Today's Reading
Genesis today is FULL of important stuff! To help you get started...
Why do you think God was so concerned about them building the tower of Babel? (modern day Iraq)
What do you think it was like for Abram to follow God to a place he had never been before?
How do you feel about Abram's lie that Sarai was his sister?
Matthew contains the Beatitudes. I heard a teacher one time who said that the best meaning of "blessed" is "the well-being of." Either way, Jesus says some important things about how we should live in the world. It's not always easy.
Psalms contrasts the life of those dedicated to God with "the wicked" in today's passage.
Proverbs. Wisdom issues us a warning.
How is your reading coming along? Questions? Comments?
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Today's readings from a wavetop perspective illuminate God's desire to have a relationship with man and man's need to have a relationship with God.
ReplyDelete-Tower of Babel: God desired their relationship not a huge tower
-Abram and Sarai: after Abram received his wife back, they worshiped God
-Jesus' sermon on the mount to disciples: full of interaction and character guidance (God's guidance to man)
-Psalm 5: seeking God
-Proverbs 1: a cry out to God
It's always humbling to realize how God simply desires a real relationship with little ole' me. Come as you are.
Thanks for the great reminder, Sean. I need that perspective this morning!
ReplyDeleteI've always found the story of the Tower of Babel interesting. In Gen 11:6, it almost sounds like God's afraid of what they might accomplish! I've read the story in many different translations and I get the feeling that we'll just never know what the real issue was. -But here's the funny part: I guess the author's of my son's "Read and Learn Bible" felt the same way, because when they tell the story, they say: "...The people were working only for themselves. God had to show them that they would always need His help to succeed..."
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you brought this up, Julie. Isn't it interesting that we are reading this the day after the new "world's tallest building" was dedicated in Dubai?
ReplyDeleteI have a new insight on the whole issue of Babel and the need for language confusion. God designed us for relationship with Him. He designed us to NEED Him, wanting us to seek Him and commune with Him. Their accomplishment with the Tower would drive them away from their awareness of their need. The confusion of languages threw them into all kinds of needy situations where they might just possibly seek Him and return to the design for which they were created.
By the way, we have continued to build towers in our world and not just tall buildings. We build all kinds of things to convince ourselves that we can make life work without the need for God
It's so true that our accomplishments drive us away from our need for God- at least for me that's very true. However, here's what I don't get: if that was really what was bothering God about the tower, why didn't he say that? Why didn't he say, "they'll be so distracted that they won't realize how much they need me" instead of "nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them." What really bothers me about this story is that it sounds like God's afraid we actually won't need him, which is impossible...
ReplyDelete"Why didn't He say that?" Here are two thoughts in answer to your question. First, they were polytheistic. After the Garden, humans quickly declined into worshiping all kinds of things. There was a line of true believers down to (and including) Noah. After the Flood, people got lured right back into it. Because of this, the people of Babel were in no position to discover the heart of God.
ReplyDeleteThe second thought is, I think, more important. You and I look back on history to see the full working out of grace in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We also have some fairly descriptive word pictures of the Final Judgment. They didn't have those things. They were progressively discovering God and it was slow! In fact, we will see their progression continue throughout the Scripture. Scholars call this "progressive revelation."
Does that help or just muddy the waters?
Yes, Sam, this is helpful. Tell me more about progressive revelation! What was God reveling in the beginning?
ReplyDeleteThe idea of progressive revelation is that, after the Fall, after expulsion from the Garden, God began to reveal Himself more and more to humanity. Sin separated humans from God and God had chose to gradually reveal His nature down through the generations. It is possible that Abram had never met another believe in the one true God of heaven until he met Melchizedek.
ReplyDeleteDoing generational leaps, Moses knew more about God than Abraham and David knew more about God than Moses. Josiah knew more about God than David and John the Baptist knew more about God than them all. Then God came in the flesh! Jesus blew everyone's minds because He didn't just know about God, He said, "I AM!"
You and I have the advantage of all this accumulated experience to add to our own experience of Christ in our lives. But we must try to understand some of the things we read in the Old Testament through what it must have been like for them.
At this point, I am saying, "thank you" to the Lord for the written Word of God, how it's compiled and that it is eternal. I am enjoying the fruits of the ones who went before us and their sacrifices (His being the most preeminent)when I open the Bible and read. Completely awesome!
ReplyDelete