Calling

DEVOTION

GENESIS

CALLING

Gen 13:1-4

13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. 2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold. 3 From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier 4 and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the LORD.

NIV

It does seem a little odd that Abram was a man whom God considered or counted his faith unto him as righteousness. We just saw how deceptive he was in Egypt concerning his wife. Now he leaves Egypt under pressure from Pharaoh, so we could actually say he was expelled from Egypt. Yet while there he managed to amass a great deal of wealth as did Lot. Now when he gets back to the place he was before, he then calls on the name of the Lord. Was he not calling on the name of the Lord while in Egypt? Was he not calling on the name of the Lord while he was busy becoming wealthy? We know the whole reason he left the place he was supposed to be in the first place was to take care of his own physical needs. Egypt was not where God had called him to go, it was where he is now, back in the land of Canaan. Now he calls on the name of the Lord. What did he say to God? Did he repent of his disobedience, of his mistrust? Or now that he had all he gained from his own efforts, he now wants God to bless him, to bless all that he did? We will never know what exchange occurred between Abram and God at this time, but we can be certain God was faithful to the promise he made to Abram, even if it didn’t seem Abram was holding up his end of the bargain. How could God give all the land of the Canaanites to the descendants of Abram if he goes off the Egypt? But he is back and now he calls on the name of the Lord. Ok God, I am back, so bless me, give me all this land now, seems like he is saying. Is that our life too? God desires us to live in a certain way, in a certain place. Do we, because of difficult times go off on our own, creating our own solution, becoming involved, even preoccupied with the accumulation of wealth, then come back to God and want him to bless us? Do we only call on the name of the Lord when we are in a certain place, either physically or spiritually? Did Abram always think about God? Do we always think about God? Do we get sidetracked by the ways of the world, as it seems Abram did? Do we forget about God when things get difficult? We cannot do that. We believe in God, we believe God. He has always been with us, guiding our footsteps. No matter what our situation in life, God is in the forefront of it. We cannot simply call upon his name every so often as it seems Abram did. Yet even with his faults, God had made a promise to him and God was going to keep it. This too is our life. God has made us a promise and he is faithful to his promise, even if we fail to keep up our end of the bargain. Even when we fail, we falter, we yield to some temptation God is still faithful to his promise. Are those times when we fail him, yielding to temptation, just the same as Abram going off to Egypt? If in the midst of temptation we were to call on the name of the Lord, would we still yield? What if Abram had called on the name of the Lord when the great Famine struck the land he was in? Would God have provided enough for him? We will never know. But we do know that God has never failed to provide for us. He has always made a way for us.  We need not to worry or be anxious for tomorrow.

Phil 4:4-7

4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

NIV

It does not matter our situation in life. We can still, as we are admonished to, rejoice in the Lord always. This is always be aware of God in our lives. Always knowing he is there keeping his promise. Although we fail him, he never fails us. This narrative regarding Abram is a reminder to us to call on the name of the Lord continually, not just when we are in the right place physically or spiritually. If Abram had called on the name of the Lord in the midst of the famine, he may not have ever gotten into the trouble in Egypt. Let us continually call on the name of the Lord, keeping close to him at all times in our lives. 

Making a Choice

DEVOTION

GENESIS

MAKING A CHOICE

Gen 12:10-20

10 Now there was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to live there for a while because the famine was severe. 11 As he was about to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, "I know what a beautiful woman you are. 12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will let you live. 13 Say you are my sister, so that I will be treated well for your sake and my life will be spared because of you." 14 When Abram came to Egypt, the Egyptians saw that she was a very beautiful woman. 15 And when Pharaoh's officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh, and she was taken into his palace. 16 He treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram acquired sheep and cattle, male and female donkeys, menservants and maidservants, and camels. 17 But the LORD inflicted serious diseases on Pharaoh and his household because of Abram's wife Sarai. 18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram. "What have you done to me?" he said. "Why didn't you tell me she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now then, here is your wife. Take her and go!" 20 Then Pharaoh gave orders about Abram to his men, and they sent him on his way, with his wife and everything he had.

NIV

First we need to know that although Abram had a visit from God and followed his command to leave his country, his people and his father’s household and set out to a land he would be shown, he was not a perfect man. We think of Abram, who would be renamed by God Abraham, as a great man of faith. But that does not make him a great perfect man of faith. This narrative gives some insight on that truth. Although we should also be careful not to judge the actions of a man living in a culture thousands of years ago. From further on in Genesis we see a statement of Abraham that Sarai was in fact his sister. They had the same father but not the same mother. So in truth they were half brother and sister which again was acceptable in those days, but not in our culture today. The truth we need to see in this narrative is not about Abram telling her to say she was his sister, which was true, but about him not trusting God. God showed him the land of the Canaanites as the one he would give to his descendants and that is where Abram should have settled. But there was a famine in the land, actually in the Negev. This was on the southern region of modern day Israel. Because of the famine, Abram, in his own accord, left the Negev and traveled to Egypt. We see here as in other places that whenever there was a famine somewhere else, Egypt had food. The Nile River valley was and still is a very fertile land which is not subject to famine. Nevertheless we are not told that God instructed him to leave the land he would give to his descendants and go somewhere else just because there was little hard times ahead. The whole course of actions about Sarai being his sister for his own safety shows us he was not trusting God, but devising his own plan for survival. Although it is true that because of this deception he gained far more wealth then he had, but because God intervened in the life of Pharaoh revealing the truth of Abram’s deception, he had to leave Egypt and go back to where God wanted him to be. There may be times in our lives when we think we know better as to how we are going to make it through tough times and we devise a plan of our own to survive. We might think we should move on to a better place then where we are. We might think we should get a better job paying more. We might think we should, we should, and we should. The point is whenever we think we should we are not trusting God. When God tells us to move to a place, to live in a place, to work in a place, to worship in a place, then that is the place we should be. Although it is also true that God does move us, as he moved Abram from Ur to Haran and from there to the land of the Canaanites, he intended Abram to stay where he moved him. Abram moved on his own and it was a disaster. Maybe not for Abram, but his wife, Sarai was subject to the hands of another man other than her husband. His actions caused hurt to her, as well as to the household of Pharaoh. Again, this may have been acceptable in that culture, but the point is he did it, not God. We need to know that we are in the place God desires us to be and although we might experience a famine of sorts, we need to continue to trust God to show us how we are to remain where we are. God always has a plan for our lives. God will always provide for us in the place he has shown us to live. Abram knew where he was supposed to be, but he left it for his own needs. There are times when God does move us. He closes a door on our job and moves us on to the place he wants us to be. There are times he might move us from one church to another, one city to another. We have to know it is him, not us who makes that move. This is why Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to guide us, to live within us, giving us the sense of the will of God concerning our lives. God is the one who have given us this measure of faith.

Rom 12:3

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.

NIV

The intent of his giving us this measure of faith, and we should not guess as to whether he has given one a greater measure then another, for God does not show favoritism, is so we will trust him. It is impossible for man to trust God if he has no faith, so God gives everyone faith. We are told that Abraham’s faith was counted unto him as righteousness.

Rom 4:9

We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness.

NIV

It is certain Abram was having some difficult times with his faith in God, but it also was a learning experience for him and as he grew in his faith, he trusted God more and more even to the point of being willing to offer his own son to God. So we should not be too harsh on him at moment in his life, he is learning, he is growing, but he is struggling in his faith. We are not much different. We find the measure faith God has given us to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. Then at times we revert back to trusting our own efforts, but we grow in our faith, we learn we cannot trust our own judgement, we need to trust his. We learn, we grow, we become the person of faith God intends us to be. Then we question, we second guess his plan for us. We think maybe we should do something else, that we have a better plan. But the Spirit bears witness to God and his plan and we continue to learn to trust him more and more. Our lives are but a journey of learning to trust. Our humanity will always struggle, but as we learn more and more to trust, our humanity submits more and more. As with Abram, it is living either with self or with God. We make that choice. 

An Altar

DEVOTION

GENESIS

AN ALTAR

Gen 12:6-9

6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, "To your offspring I will give this land." So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD. 9 Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

NIV

Well this answers any questions as to how God spoke to Abram as we see here he had appeared to him. Abram was on the move because God had told him he would show him the land he was to go. It would appear from the description here he had arrived in the land of the Canaanites. This was the land  he was to have, but at this time it appears he did not know it, as he continued to travel on to the hills east of Bethel then set out toward Negev. Yet this was the land of the Canaanites which some time later Joshua and the Israelites under the direction of God drove from the land and occupied it. This follows exactly what God told Abram when he arrived there. He told it was the land he would give to his offspring. We should note we have been told his wife Sarai was barren. We would think Abram would have questioned that, but he did not as we are told he built an altar to the Lord where he had appeared to him. What use the altar was for we are not told. Did he make a sacrifice to the Lord? As he moved on and pitched his tent in another place he built another altar and here we are told he called upon the name of the Lord. It seems that everywhere Abram pitched his tent he built an altar. Was this his way of making his faith known? Was an altar needed in order to make a sacrifice? We know men have brought sacrifices to the Lord from that time of Cain and Abel, who had to have learned that from their father Adam, who had to have been told to do so by God. But why the need of an altar? Was it just a way to show his faith? Today we still have churches with altars of sort, maybe just an altar railing. Back some years ago, it was customary to come to the altar when we confessed Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Some churches have people knee at the altar to receive communion. Some have as many people who want to come, gather around the altar for prayer. We bring our children to an altar of sorts to either baptize or dedicate. There is certainly altars throughout the Old Testament, in fact it was a central figure in the design of the Tabernacle Moses built under the direction of God. Perhaps the altar was simply a point of contact for Abram to speak to the Lord who had appeared to him. We do see that when he pitched his tent near Bethel and built an altar, he called on the name of the Lord. It would appear God is close to Abram, he is showing him what is to come. When God told him he would give this land to his seed, his descendants, it may well be he saw Jesus.

John 8:56

56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad." 

NIV

God had revealed to Abram all that was to take place, is it no wonder he built altars and called on the name of the Lord.  But what do we learn for our lives? Certainly we do not build any altars in our homes to God as Abram did. But have we confined any altars to our church buildings? Why shouldn’t we have some form of an altar where we live? We do, it is our bodies.

1 Cor 6:19-20

19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.

NIV

What better way to have an altar then to be that very altar within ourselves.  Every temple the Israelites built included an altar. The churches today have altars in some sense, certainly not like the ones in the temple but nevertheless an altar. Yet our altar is not one built with human hands, but by the hand of the Lord. We live within our altar, our body, and the sacrifice we make upon that altar is ourselves.

Rom 12:1

12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God — this is your spiritual act of worship.

NIV

We need not have a special room in our home dedicated for an altar, or shrine as some religions of the world do. We do not have to build an altar to call upon the name of the Lord. We are the temple, the altar and the sacrifice when we are in Christ who was the final sacrifice needed for all our sin. After Jesus offered himself on the altar of the cross there is no more need for altars built by men for sacrifices upon. But here we are, the temple, the altar and the sacrifice. We can call upon the name of the Lord anytime anywhere for we carry our temple and altar within us.

Arriving there

DEVOTION

GENESIS

ARRIVING THERE

Gen 12:1-5

12:1 The LORD had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. 2 "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

4 So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

NIV

Abram is in Haran when he hears from God. We are not told anything about how his father Terah lived concerning God or if Abram had been raised with the knowledge of God and all the history of the Flood. Of course we know that Noah and Shem were still alive when he was born, but we do not know if they ever had any contact. We do not know where Noah or Shem actually lived and if Ur where Tereh lived was close enough to them to have any contact. Yet because Tereh was taking Abram, Sarai and Lot from Ur to Canaan and made a stop in Haran where he decided to settle and then died, we find Abram hearing from God in Haran. From what God says here we would also think that more than just those three were with Tereh. God tells Abram to leave his country, his people and his father’s household. That is like everything, strike out on your own, become the head of your own household now. Today we do not think much about leaving our family, get married and striking out on our own, but in that day it was really a big deal. Families, or clans stayed together, sons living under the leadership of their father, bringing wives into the clan, having sons and daughters who lived under rule and protection of the family patriarch. On his deathbed he would bless each of his sons, and usually the eldest would then assume the rule of leader of the clan, family, which would have included any hired hands, or bond servants. So for Abram to leave his clan, family and head out to someplace unknown was really big. Yet we also see here that God assured him that he would watch over him, bless him and anyone who blesses him and curse anyone who curses him. If God told us that why wouldn’t we follow him? Wait, he has told us that.

Deut 31:8

8 The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

NIV

Ps 119:105

Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

NIV

There are hundreds of scriptures which show us that God is with us, that he has our path defined for us, and has called us to follow where he leads us. Abram did not have all the scripture, in fact none of it. What he had was either the voice of God, or a divine visit from him or a representative of him speaking directly to him and informing him exactly what he was to do. Today we have the same situation because Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to not only be with us, but to be in us. He is our divine guide in our life.

John 16:12-15

 13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. 14 He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you.

NIV

Along with many other words about the Spirit in the New Testament we are assured in the same way Abram was assured. Of course Abram was a little different then we are. God has selected him to bless the whole world. He was to become the father of many nations, and through his line, David would enter the world, but more importantly Jesus would enter the world. God was going to give Abram a world renowned name and a promised land to live in. So he picked up and left his father’s clan. Yes, he took all his assets with him. All his possessions and people he had gained while in Haran. So it was a tribe of people, a clan onto itself that set out from Haran onto a new land. Abram had herds of cattle and sheep. He had tents and supplies and set out to live a new life as God directed him to. This is our lesson, of course. We too must be ready to set out on a new life when God calls us. First of all he already has called us out from a city of darkness into a city of light.

1 Peter 2:9-10

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

NIV

We left our father’s household, that place in the darkness, and we set out on a new path as directed by God and he has promised us he would lead us to a promised land, eternal life in the new city of Jerusalem. It is not just us who he has called and promised to, but he has called everyone and promised the same thing, but in order to have that promise we must leave our father’s household and set out on a new path. This happens when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. We are now on that right path to the place he will show us. Abram did not know where this land was that he was to travel to. He did not know what to expect when he arrived, but what he knew was that God was going to reveal it to him. There are times in our lives when we are not sure what the future holds for us, but as long as we are traveling along the path set out for us by God we will be alright. Traveling this path we will not only be alright, but we will be a light unto the world.

Matt 5:14-16

14 "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

NIV

So let us continue to walk in his light so that we can be a light for others to see the true light of God. In this way we will be a blessing to others, as God told Abram he would be a blessing to the whole world. This blessing is of course Jesus. This is the same kind of blessing we can be to others who see Jesus because of the light we shine into the spiritual darkness of their lives. Noah walked with God, Abram did as God directed him to and we see he arrived there. Let us walk with God, follow his directions and we too will arrive there. 

His Plan

DEVOTION

GENESIS

HIS PLAN

Gen 11:10-32

10 This is the account of Shem.

Two years after the flood, when Shem was 100 years old, he became the father of Arphaxad. 11 And after he became the father of Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and had other sons and daughters. 12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he became the father of Shelah. 13 And after he became the father of Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters.   14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he became the father of Eber. 15 And after he became the father of Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and had other sons and daughters. 16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he became the father of Peleg. 17 And after he became the father of Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and had other sons and daughters. 18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he became the father of Reu. 19 And after he became the father of Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and had other sons and daughters. 20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he became the father of Serug. 21 And after he became the father of Serug, Reu lived 207 years and had other sons and daughters. 22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he became the father of Nahor. 23 And after he became the father of Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and had other sons and daughters. 24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he became the father of Terah. 25 And after he became the father of Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and had other sons and daughters. 26 After Terah had lived 70 years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran.

27 This is the account of Terah.

Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. And Haran became the father of Lot. 28 While his father Terah was still alive, Haran died in Ur of the Chaldeans, in the land of his birth. 29 Abram and Nahor both married. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah; she was the daughter of Haran, the father of both Milcah and Iscah. 30 Now Sarai was barren; she had no children. 31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram, and together they set out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 Terah lived 205 years, and he died in Haran.

NIV

We have a whole of fathers who gave birth to sons in order to show us that from Shem we get to the man Abram, with whom we will spent much time. Of course becomes the father of many nations and through his line we have Jesus coming into the world. It cannot be certain why we are told how old each man was when he had the son we are told the name of that son. Each man had other sons and daughters, but this one son is the one through the line traced to Abram. It has to be of some importance as to why we are told how old each was when he fathered this particular son. It is interesting if we chart it all out that we find it was three hundred and ninety years from the time Shem gave birth to his son until Abram was born. We also note that Shem lived a total of six hundred years and his father Noah lived nine hundred and fifty years which would have meant both of them were still alive when Abram was born, although many of the men in the line of descendants had already died. Their ages or lifespans kept getting shorter. It is also noted that some of the other sources of this genealogy are a little different in timespans, but the point any of them make is to bring us to Abram. Here we find Terah had three sons and the reason we have to know that is because of the man Lot, who is Abrams nephew and whom we will also spend some time with. We are being informed of the whole family setting because now we are going to walk with them through their lives learning valuable lessons for our lives.  What we come to is the conclusion of this line, but also the beginning of this family. The first thing we notice is that it was Terah who decided to set out for Canaan. He did not take his whole family, at least they are not mentioned as going with him. The part of his family that is mentioned is his son Abram and his wife Sarai plus Terah's grandson Lot who was a nephew to Abram. We are also told that Sarai was barren. We are being given the set up for the time and lessons we will learn from these three people. But what can we learn from this set up? It would seem as we reflect on our walk with God, he does not just spring something on us, but rather moves things around in our life, gradually changing our situations until his move is obvious to us. He gives us some set up for the change he is about to make, the lesson he is about to teach us. This is not to say he could not intervene supernaturally with an overpowering majestic command that comes like a lighting strike. But with most of our life he has taken the time to give us the set up so we are ready for what is to come in our lives. He has given us insights and allowed us to ponder on them before making any moves, or changes. The Spirit speaks to us in that still small voice leading us gently through a change. As we see here with Abram, he was not called by God to leave Ur, as much as he was brought to Haran by his father. His path of changing his lifestyle was being set up by God, so that Abram would be able to continue the change from living an urban life to one of a Bedouin. It may have been too much for him to just make that kind of massive change in his life all at once. God was gracious to him, preparing him for the major change that was to occur. He surely acts this same way in our lives. He is a God who cares about our every need, physical, mental, emotional and he brings us along in a way that we can make the changes he desires in and for our lives. Sometimes he could use someone else to begin our journey. Another person who testifies to us about the Jesus, and we make the change from living a sinful life to one of learning to live to please him. He can use another person to take us on another path, such as he used Terah, Abrams father to start him on the journey to Canaan and living a Bedouin life following the leading of God. We certainly cannot put God in a box, so to speak, but we can see that he moves in various ways to accomplish his will for our lives. The point we are seeing, is just that, God is accomplishing his plan. 

The Tower

DEVOTION

GENESIS

THE TOWER

Gen 11:1-9

11:1 Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. 2 As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. 3 They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 4 Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."

5 But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building. 6 The LORD said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other." 8 So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why it was called Babel — because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.

NIV

We have a few points which we should consider before delving into the truth of this passage. First the idea of one language and a common speech on the surface is just that, yet it also carries the idea of one ideology, they were together in their thinking. The words used as same language also actually say, one lip. This could also mean of one worship, or of one sentiment. The group that traveled east had one man among them, perhaps even a leader of sorts. This was Nimrod. Because this place was called Babel or Babylon and we know this was one of the first centers of his kingdom, we have to believe he was at the helm of this group heading east. So they decided to stop moving and settled at this place and began to build this city. There is a great deal of discussion about this tower and why they were building it. Some think it was so to escape any more floods, others considered this as a tower of worship to the sun, moon and the stars. What we are told is their construction of this tower was to make a name for themselves and so they would not be scattered all over the earth. Here is where they went wrong. We know that God told Noah and his sons to fill the whole earth. God’s will was for all of them to scatter over the whole earth. These men, as we think were led by Nimrod, did not want to do the Lord’s will, they wanted their own wills to be accomplished. They wanted to make a name for themselves. They wanted the rest of the peoples of the earth to know who they were, the people who build this great city and with an even greater tower that reached to the heavens. In essence this group of people began to think themselves greater then who they were, thinking more of themselves than they ought to. Our purpose is not to make a name for ourselves but to bring praise and glory to God. They were not about giving praise to God, but rather wanted the praise from other men.

John 12:42-43

42 Yet at the same time many even among the leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not confess their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved praise from men more than praise from God.

NIV

It did not change much, even in the time when Jesus was among us, as we can see from what the Lord has said through John. The Pharisees wanted the praise of men, rather than of God. They lived in a manner so others would say how spiritual, how godly are these men, but their hearts were not spiritual nor godly. They wanted to make a name for themselves, just at those who tried to build this tower of Babel. Secondly they were refusing to obey the will of God to scatter over the whole earth. But we see the response of God toward men who want to make a name for themselves, who think more highly of themselves then they ought to and refuse to do God’s will. Whether he actually caused them to speak differently or different languages or confused they sentiment, their desires, their intents and they began to disagree with the reason for the tower, the same effect happened, they stopped construction and started to separate themselves from each other, scattering to different places. God was accomplishing his will despite the efforts of man to accomplish his own will. This is a great lesson for us. First we should always remember who we are in the body of Christ.

Rom 12:3-8

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. 7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; 8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

NIV

We are a part of the family of God, here to accomplish his will and he gifts us according to his plan for our lives so that we may serve him by serving each other, being one with him and with each other. There is no purpose for us to make any other name for ourselves then what he calls us, children or sons. There is no need for us to make our mark in this world, to leave a legacy of greatness behind us, so men will always remember our name. The legacy we need to leave is our faith in Christ. If men talk about us either when we are still here or gone, they should be saying, this person believes or believed God. This person has or had faith in God. Pride in oneself is not a good attitude. Yes, we should be the best we can be at whatever we do, so that men will see our good works and give God glory. When we do good things, people need to know we are believers, Christ followers, born again Christians who love the Lord with all our heart. They need to know the reason we do what we do is so God will get the glory. If we just are the best and remain silent about our faith, our purpose, then men will praise us, not God. This is how those who built that tower thought. They wanted the praise of men, not God. How easy it is to get caught up in that kind of thinking, even in spiritual matters. We could try to make other believers think we are so spiritual, like the Pharisees did. That is not to say we should hide our gifts, or talents which God has blessed us with. We need to share our gifts, our talents, our God given abilities with others in the body of Christ. We are admonished to do just that, as we see in that passage in Romans 12 we just read. But we should do this with a humble heart, knowing any gifts, talents or abilities are from God, and for God. Just as we are admonished not to hide our light under a barrel, we are not to hide our gifts either. Let us not try to build ourselves any towers. Let us remain in the strong tower we already have.

Prov 18:10

10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower ; the righteous run to it and are safe.

NIV

Right side of the divide

DEVOTION

GENESIS

RIGHT SIDE OF THE DIVIDE

Gen 10:21-32

21 Sons were also born to Shem, whose older brother was Japheth; Shem was the ancestor of all the sons of Eber. 22 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud and Aram. 23 The sons of Aram: Uz, Hul, Gether and Meshech.   24 Arphaxad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah the father of Eber. 25 Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his time the earth was divided; his brother was named Joktan. 26 Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah, 27 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah, 28 Obal, Abimael, Sheba, 29 Ophir, Havilah and Jobab. All these were sons of Joktan. 30 The region where they lived stretched from Mesha toward Sephar, in the eastern hill country. 31 These are the sons of Shem by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations. 32 These are the clans of Noah's sons, according to their lines of descent, within their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.

NIV

There seems to be nothing of great importance within the line of Shem other than who begot who and of course from this line Jesus came into the world. But we are not there yet, and so we simply have these sons of Shem and their sons. We are told something about one of the sons of Eber which is inserted for some reason. Peleg was but six generations down from Shem. What our scholars have spent some time at is the number of people all this who begot who has brought into the world. From three families, or six people, they have counted the number of people who would be on this earth at the time Peleg was born, or during his time when the earth was divided. Their calculations fix about five hundred families at his time of birth. With an average size of ten people per family, which is what is supposed. That would be about five thousand full grown people on this earth. From these people all the tribes or nations scattered. But why was the earth divided during his time? If the chronology is correct he could have been living during the time of the building of the tower of Babel and this is the reference to that division. Why would God want us to know that? Of what importance is knowing it was during his time? What we do know is Jesus came through the line of Peleg. Is this the reason we are told something special about him? We are told all the sons of his brother, but none of his sons. He was the great, great, great, grandfather of Abraham. So why was the earth divided during his time? It would seem the earth has been divided ever since that time. If this was a reference to who was living during the confusion of tongues that would be just fine. But then why would it be stated as divided rather than what it was, a confusion of tongues because man was trying to show their ability to reach God? Although we still have multitudes of languages today, we have learned how to communicate with each other, with the ability to know more than one language. So then the earth is no longer divided by a confusion of tongues. Has man been able to overshadow the effects or actions of God? Certainly not! This division must mean something else other than the time of the confusion of tongues. What we are seeing is Peleg was the ancestor of Abraham with whom God made a covenant. In fact God put his middle name in the middle of Abram’s name as part of this covenant. This division still exists today, it is those who are of the seed of Abraham and those who are not. God knew this would be the way the world would be and we are being told it began during the time of Peleg. If our math is right Peleg who lived a total of two hundred and thirty-nine years was only one hundred and nineteen years old when Abram was born. He would have been in his time that the earth was in fact divided between the seed of Abram and all others. As we are the seed of Abraham, we also are part of the division of the earth.

Gal 3:29

29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed , and heirs according to the promise.

NIV

The world is divided now between believers and non-believers. This is the true division which exists. This is what will be the factor at the time of judgement. Nothing else divides us more than this one thing. Although there seems to be a great divide between some of the world’s ideologies, both political and religious, in the final analysis it comes down to who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and who has not. We will forever be divided over this one reason. Although we make massive efforts to spread the Gospel message throughout the world, there will always be those who refuse it, and those who accept it. We know this because of the last judgement.

Matt 25:31-33

31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

NIV

We know from the rest of this narrative in Matthew the sheep will enter into his rest and have eternal life, the goats will be cast out and experience eternal death. This is the great divide between all peoples of the earth. Praise God we are on the right side.

What did he say

DEVOTION

GENESIS

WHAT DID HE SAY

Gen 10:6-20

6 The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put and Canaan. 7 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah: Sheba and Dedan.

8 Cush was the father of Nimrod, who grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; that is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD." 10 The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Calneh, in Shinar.   11 From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah 12 and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. 13 Mizraim was the father of the Ludites, Anamites, Lehabites, Naphtuhites, 14 Pathrusites, Casluhites (from whom the Philistines came) and Caphtorites. 15 Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn, and of the Hittites, 16 Jebusites, Amorites, Girgashites, 17 Hivites, Arkites, Sinites, 18 Arvadites, Zemarites and Hamathites. Later the Canaanite clans scattered 19 and the borders of Canaan reached from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and then toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, as far as Lasha. 20 These are the sons of Ham by their clans and languages, in their territories and nations.

NIV

Another who begot who from the line of Ham, the son who had disrespected his father, Noah and whom Noah cursed his son Canaan that he would be a slave to the others. Yet Ham had many other sons who did not have that curse upon them. So what do we learn from this line of descendants? For a starter there is one man that appears who God saw fit to make a commentary regarding him. This man, Nimrod, grew to be a mighty warrior on the earth. We know little about him, as his name only appears here and in 1 Chronicles where it says the same thing about him. Our scholars and historians have made more of this man then the Bible tells us about him. Some say he was a very bad man. But here in this text we are told he was a mighty hunter before the Lord. From the text we have to believe Nimrod walked with God and this is why he was singled out to have a commentary about his life. Although our scholars spent much time determining which lands and nations come from each of the descendants, it would be a good lesson for us to observe this statement about Nimrod. All throughout the scriptures we find various men whom God makes a commentary about. For example we already have seen him say that Noah found favor in his eyes. We know he said he counted Abraham's faith as righteousness. We are told that David was a man after God’s own heart. Isaac is another man whom God declared he would make his covenant with. We could find many men whom God said something about, but the point is this. Will God say something about us? What would he say? Would he say: there is a man of faith? Would he declare that this is a man who believed God? Would he say, this man wanted his own way? We know he could certainly say, this man accepted my Son. This is a man whom I can call my child. This is a man who will be a co-heir with my Son, Jesus. This is a man, although not perfect in his humanity is a man after my own heart. This is a man in whom I am well pleased. These are all commentaries that would be great to have told about us. But what is the true commentary? Which would he say about us? Maybe he could say we are a mighty warrior before him, a hunter of souls. So often we are concerned about what other people say about us. When in all truth we should be concerned what God would say about us. Sometimes some people might think we are a little fanatic about our faith. We get too passionate when we talk about God, about Jesus, about the truth. Some would say we are closed-minded to new ideas, new doctrines, and new concepts regarding the scriptures. Some would say we get too preachy. Although we are told that Jesus grew in favor with both God and men, he spent his time showing men God.

Luke 2:52

52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

NIV

We too should show men God. This is our calling from God, our command to go out into all the world proclaiming the gospel. Is this something God would say about us? Are we doing his command? Yes, we should live a life before others which brings glory to God. Yes, it is important in a sense what others think of us because we represent God, we are his ambassadors in a foreign land. Yet in the final analysis it is about what God says about us? It is not about what man says, but what did God say. 

Who begot who

DEVOTION

GENESIS

WHO BEGOT WHO

Gen 10:1-5

10:1 This is the account of Shem, Ham and Japheth, Noah's sons, who themselves had sons after the flood.

2 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech and Tiras. 3 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Riphath and Togarmah. 4 The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittim and the Rodanim.   5(From these the maritime peoples spread out into their territories by their clans within their nations, each with its own language.)

NIV

The whole of this chapter is like this, names upon names of sons born to fathers who were sons born to fathers who were sons of Noah. The idea here is to show us that from the three sons of Noah the whole earth was repopulated and in doing this they did not remain at the place where there existed the ark. It would have been impossible as their numbers grew they needed more land for both their crops and their livestock. It would have also been necessary they needed space between themselves. Within the constitution of every man is the need to lead, to be the head of his family, it is the way God designed the male and we are told the man should be the head of his family as Christ if the head of his church. Men would need to separate themselves as they built their families, headed off into unchartered lands. From some particular descendants of Japheth we are told the maritime peoples began. What we are seeing is mankind is finding various trades, or occupations that differ from each other. We also see that clans are forming into various nations. This is not necessarily nations which have borders, although it would develop into that at some point, but at first clans were nations, much like the Indian nations that occupied the Americas. They had no positive borders, but did in some sense have a certain defined territory. We note that although we are told each had thier own language, this is not a chronological statement. We know that all mankind spoke the same language until they attempted to build the tower of Babel, which is to come a little later in this narrative of the beginning. So why are we being told all about who fathered who, especially since it was through the line of Shem that Jesus came into this world. Why do we need to know about the others? The whole idea of God wanting us to know about clans, about nations, about fathers having sons and each becoming or developing into different nations is a bit difficult to understand. How do we see a truth for us in this? As we view our world today, each nation with its own language, but in our modern times we still are able to understand each other, which sort of circumvents what God did to the peoples during the construction of the tower of Babel. Yet we still have many nations, all with their borders, and own leadership. We also have each family with its own leadership. Today many of us desire to know our ancestry and many websites offer opportunity to research our past ancestors and find our roots, as to which nation, which language we descended from. We are told it is even possible to tell from our DNA as to what clan we belong to. Yet what we find in all this is the fact we have the right to be called sons of God.

Gal 3:26-29

26 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

NIV

Here is the whole truth of knowing our lineage. When we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior no matter what human line of descendants we are, we become the sons of God. We are now in fact from the line of Abraham and heirs according to the promise. We are back to the promise of God. We no longer belong to our ancestors, but to God. All the genealogy throughout the scriptures point us to this one moment in time when none of that matters except becoming known as sons of God, children of God.

1 John 3:1

3:1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God ! And that is what we are!

NIV

Although we are going to see more narrative of who begot who and come across certain individuals who have some claim to fame, and we are told of their lives, it all comes down to this:

God is the father of us. We are his children. That is the bottom line.  

Spoken word

DEVOTION

GENESIS

SPOKEN WORD

Gen 9:24-29

24 When Noah awoke from his wine and found out what his youngest son had done to him, 25 he said, "Cursed be Canaan! The lowest of slaves will he be to his brothers." 26 He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem.   27 May God extend the territory of Japheth; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be his slave."  28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years. 29 Altogether, Noah lived 950 years, and then he died.

NIV

We just saw how Ham had disrespected his father and now Noah awakes to find out what Ham had done. When we read these words we might be tempted to read them with anger in our voice thinking this is how Noah said them. But he could have spoken then with a soft voice and tears in his eyes, feeling horrible about having to put this curse on the son of Ham, but being the family patriarch it was his duty to meter out disciple for wrong doing as well as giving words of praise, yet this was not the case here.  It does seem rather odd that Canaan should suffer this curse because of the actions, or behavior of his father. But there is something in future time which bears out this prophetic speech of Noah. His words must had been inspired by God rather than a harsh disciple toward one son and a tender heart toward the others. If we look ahead,

Lev 18:1-5

18:1 The LORD said to Moses, 2 "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'I am the LORD your God. 3 You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices. 4 You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees. I am the LORD your God. 5 Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the LORD.

NIV

We know the Lord God gave the Israelites the land of Canaan. These were the descendants of the son of Ham, of his son Canaan. We know that God drove the Canaanites out and handed their land over to the Israelites, and we know why.

Deut 9:4-6

 4 After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, "The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness." No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you. 5 It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 6 Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.

NIV

All this is within those words of Noah spoken unto his sons, as God inspired him. What lesson can we learn from this? How does this apply to our lives? Although we may not think we have been inspired by God to speak to our children in this manner, we may well be inspired to speak words into our children’s lives, as well into the lives of others we encounter. Because the Holy Spirit dwells within us, we do have the ability to speak prophetic words into the lives of others, especially our children, even if they are full grown with children. Such was the case with Noah and his sons, who were all married and at least Ham already had a son. This is not to say that everything we say to them has to be spoken as prophetic. In fact, it is even possible that children could speak prophetic words to their siblings and parents as we see in the life of Joseph. The point is first of all we should be aware of how we speak to one another, our words are important. When we speak out of haste, we speak words we should not. Those are the times we are surely not hearing the Spirit, in fact we are flat out ignoring him. If we are listening to the Spirit within we will speak words as he inspires us to speak and some of those word might well effect generations of descendants. In this world today once we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior it is imperative we speak those words into the lives of our children so they can speak them into their children and the children to come, generation after generation. These are words which bring life into them, eternal life. But if we fail to speak them we have already spoken words which will cause them condemnation. This holds true of our families, as well as those who we encounter during our life. True we could focus on not having anything to do with the practices of the Canaanites. We can withdraw from the practices of the world around us, but that would not be going into all the world speaking the truth of the gospel to them, bringing them life instead of death. Noah spoke as inspired by God who knew how the children of Canaan would become. We have the Spirit who directs us to speak words into the lives of others. He knows who will hear and respond, he knows who will not hear and live as the Canaanites did. Noah was sensitive to hearing from God. We need to be sensitive to hearing from the Spirit. Noah did not speak from his own point of view, but of the view of God. We should be careful not to speak as men, but to speak as from God. We see the importance of the spoken word. 

Tattletale

DEVOTION

GENESIS

TATTLETALE

Gen 9:18-23

18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.) 19 These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the earth. 20 Noah, a man of the soil, proceeded to plant a vineyard. 21 When he drank some of its wine, he became drunk and lay uncovered inside his tent. 22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father's nakedness and told his two brothers outside. 23 But Shem and Japheth took a garment and laid it across their shoulders; then they walked in backward and covered their father's nakedness. Their faces were turned the other way so that they would not see their father's nakedness.

NIV

There is a reason we are told that Ham was the father of Cannan, but we will not see the reason we are told that until the next portion of this narrative which we will leave to deal with on its own. What we see here is Noah returning to what he knew how to do. He certainly was not a mechanic, a worker of metals, but was a worker of the soil, an agricultural man, a farmer. Of course God was the first planter, but here we see Noah planting a vineyard. It is interesting he planted a vineyard. Why didn’t he plant corn, or wheat, or rye, or barley, or some other grain that would be used for bread or other sustenance? Why grapes? Of what value do grapes have for food, other than to make wine? Our scholars are convinced Noah did not know what wine was, that he had no clue it would produce a state of drunkenness if drank in excess. But grapes do not cause a man to get drunk unless they are fermented. Noah did not just plant a vineyard, he grew the grapes, picked them, fermented them until they became wine and then drank too much and became so drunk he feel asleep naked. This narrative has nothing to do with the drunkenness of Noah or the fact he made wine. Although it is interesting, being such a man of God, that he drank wine. We are not told that God chastised him for this practice, but the narrative deals with the response or actions of his sons toward their father. From the next portion of this narrative we know that Ham was the youngest of his sons, however the fact he was the youngest has no real bearing on what happened. Ham was the son who went into his father’s tent. We are not told the reason why Ham wanted to visit with his father, but nevertheless when he did he looked upon his father lying asleep without his cloak as a cover. What he did was wrong. He was a tattletale, he couldn’t wait to go tell his brothers what he saw their father doing. He was disrespectful to his father. Ham should have simply covered his father and went on his merry way, keeping all he saw to himself. But he did not and we see the other sons, showing respect for their father, acted in accordance with that respect. We will see in the next portion of this narrative the response from Noah when he finds out what his sons did, especially Ham. But for now we should take our lesson from Ham. We need to keep that which we see or know about another person, especially our own family, but certainly not limited to our family, to ourselves. It is a sign of disrespect to reveal any private matter regarding a person to others. Today we call that gossip.

1 Tim 5:11-13

11 As for younger widows, do not put them on such a list. For when their sensual desires overcome their dedication to Christ, they want to marry. 12 Thus they bring judgment on themselves, because they have broken their first pledge. 13 Besides, they get into the habit of being idle and going about from house to house. And not only do they become idlers, but also gossips and busybodies, saying things they ought not to.

NIV

Although this is instructions concerning younger widows, it would be wise for all of us to take this counsel. We would be respectful to others if we kept our tongue from speaking words we should not.

Ps 34:11-14

1 Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. 12 Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, 13 keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. 14 Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

NIV

It is not so much that Ham spoke a lie, but his actions were evil in the sight of God, his lips caused his father both pain and anger. We need to keep our tongue from spreading any news about others that would cause them any pain, anguish or to become angry because we violated their trust. A person’s behavior is between them and God. From the narrative, we have to believe God was not disappointed or disapproved in Noah’s behavior, but we are told he was in Ham’s. Ham was in some sense passing judgement on his father’s behavior by informing his brothers. We need to be very careful and always vigilant we do not slip into this kind of behavior, informing others about the behavior of someone else. We have often said, “If we are not part of the problem, or the solution, if is none of our business”. We need to always remember our own words, but more importantly because they are based on God’s words. Keep our tongue from speaking any evil. Be careful what we say. Watch our tongue. Do not be a tattletale.