Stephen continued his journey through Genesis last night. After the flood, God established a covenant with Noah and his descendants and we then go on to read the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, his sons, who themselves had sons (Gen 10:1). The account of Japheth’s sons is in Genesis 10:2-5, Ham’s sons in Genesis 10:6-20 and Shem’s sons in Genesis 10:21-31 – 70 in all. God was involved in all this work, but it was not long before men continued to sin.
Genesis 11:1-9 tells us the story of the origin of different languages. Men continued to rebel against God; his pride and his own glorification led to the construction of the Tower of Babel. Essentially, man continued to want to be like God, building a tower to the heavens. God still wanted to be involved in man’s life, but would not share His supremacy with mankind and came down to disrupt their language. This caused confusion and separation since there was now a lack of understanding among the people, who could not communicate properly with each other.
Language is a powerful, unifying tool. When we are able to communicate, to share our thoughts and our feelings as well as basic, ordinary words (‘pass me the brick’), things get done. The confusion of language led to the end of the building project and has led to disunity and division ever since.
We live in a world that has forgotten God and wants to live according to its own rules and plans. Man continues to try to usurp God’s place. Nonetheless, God continues to want to be involved in every aspect of our lives. In Christ, He has made a way for us to be reconciled to Himself and to regain that unity once known in Eden. May we allow Him to be Lord over every aspect of our lives.
We also had a birthday to celebrate: