Journeying

As many will be embarking on holiday journeys this month we follow some of the many journeys the people of God took in bible times. We begin in Genesis 11:1-9, were we find Noah’s descendants migrating from Mount Ararat to Babel.

We read, “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there…But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building…[and] the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city”

I am sure that we have all come across the saying, “Unless the Lord builds a house, the builders’ work is useless.” Well, this was what was going on in Genesis 11; the people were trying to create a name for themselves and to do so to their own design and in their own strength. This is exactly what was happening in Babel. The people had two goals, to build for themselves a city, and to build a tower whose top will reach into heaven. It appears the tower is an essential part of the object of building a city and a tower, namely to make for themselves a name. They were directly disobedient to God’s will.

In Genesis 9:1 we read that “God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: Be fertile and multiply and fill the earth.” But the people had other plans, hence why God scattered the people all over the earth.

The Lord takes us all to obedience school. Sometimes, he uses the Law to motivate. But He would much rather use the Gospel to get his people to obey. Both obedience philosophies get results. Basically we are talking about the difference between Law motivation and Gospel motivation. In our lives, sometimes we do things, like hitting the brakes when you see a police car, that would be obeying out of Law motivation. It is the fear of punishment that motivates you to slow down. But now let’s say that you are driving your children or grandchildren in the car with you. You are so happy for the gift of a family that God has given you, that you want to drive as carefully as possible, and so you don’t even think about breaking the speed limit. That would be Gospel motivation. 

In my journeying with you,
may I never lose my sense of direction,
never lose sight of the landmark
towards which I travel.
And should cloud or rain obscure my vision,
may I draw closer to you,
so that my feet may tread
in your footsteps,
your words be my encouragement,
and your love my protection
against the storms that assail me. Amen