“SO THAT THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND!”

 

Genesis 11:1-9                 (ESV)

The Tower of Babel

“[1] Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. [2] And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. [3] And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. [4] Then THEY SAID, “Come, LET US BUILD OURSELVES a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us MAKE A NAME FOR OURSELVES, LEST WE BE DISPERSED over the face of the whole earth.” [5] And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. [6] And THE LORD SAID, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. [7] Come, let us go down and there CONFUSE their language, “SO THAT THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND” one another’s speech.” [8] So THE LORD DISPERSED THEM from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. [9] Therefore its name was called Babel, because there THE LORD CONFUSED THE LANGUAGE of all the earth. And from there THE LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.”

There are times when I don’t UNDERSTAND HIS-STORY!  GOD can make HIS PLAN perfectly clear, but apparently I am unable to SEE what HE intended.  My standard mode of operation has normally been to get my instructions and THEN to go FULL SPEED AHEAD with what I “thought” I SAW as HIS PLAN???

But is that what the Children of Israel experienced in Exodus 14 on the banks of the Red Sea?  No, they HAD TO WAIT for GOD to split the Red Sea for them to, not only flee from the enemy, but so that GOD could demolish the enemy at the bottom of the Red Sea!!!  Had the Israelites tried to escape before GOD parted the Red Sea, the outcome DEFINITELY would have not been as effective.  

The “land of Shinar” (v. 2 above) was also known as Babylonia, present-day Iraq and parts of Syria.  An uneducated person might see this area as arid and undesirable.  When it is revealed that the Tower of Babel is just south of modern day Baghdad, Iraq it caused my EYES to be OPENED to SEE things more clearly!  

Humanity DOES NOT have the capability to manufacture a “way to GOD”!! JESUS HIMSELF says in John 4:24 that “GOD IS SPIRIT”??  Why then, do we even try to find a SPIRIT with our physical bodies on a physical earth???  

GOD says in Genesis 11:7 that our CREATOR will “go down there and confuse their language, “SO THAT THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND” one another’s speech.”  GOD ALONE is the ONLY ONE WHO is able to OPEN our EYES and permit our EYES to SEE TRUTH!!!  The people of Babel were unsuccessful in their efforts, something that ALL OF CREATION will SEE!  JESUS, THE CREATOR, says in John 6:44 that “No one can come to ME UNLESS the FATHER WHO sent ME draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”  

ALMIGHTY GOD has made things “SO THAT THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND”…….and it will be that way until HE OPENS OUR EYES!!!

“BE CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE!”

 

Hebrews 13:5                 (ESV(

“[5] Keep your life free from love of money, and “BE CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE”, for HE has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.””

Recently I was thinking about an appointment I have with someone further in town, AND how I “could” stop by a pastry shop and buy an Apple Fritter!  Anyone that knows me can testify that I DO NOT NEED an Apple Fritter, but the desire was there just the same.  Instead of “my desire”, I instead ate an apple and banana for breakfast and abstained from eating something that I probably didn’t need!  

This brought my mind to an interview I watched recently with a Southern Gospel singer who said that the LORD was telling him that HE had him where he currently was “for this season in your life”!  

GOD doesn’t make ANY mistakes!  HE also doesn’t put us in situations where HE has not already been……AND USES FOR HIS GLORY!  King David probably “thought” that he had gotten away with his indiscretions with Bathsheba, that is until she informed King David that she was pregnant!  Then he began to try and cover up his actions, which only made it worse!  Ultimately his successor to the Throne of Israel was a child GOD BLESSED him with…..through Bathsheba AFTER they were married and lost the first child in the birthing process!!!

The lesson King David learned through his failure brought him the successor to the Kingdom of the nation of Israel.  GOD HAD A PLAN, and David’s son, Solomon, was part of that PLAN!  King David had to suffer through the humiliation of his infidelity with Bathsheba, THE DEATH OF THE INFANT FROM THAT ACT, and the turmoil of the existing sons, all because he couldn’t “BE CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE”!!!  

May I WAIT ON THE LORD,and BE PATIENT, and “BE CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE”, FOR HIS GLORY!!!

“THE ANGEL OF GOD!”

 

Exodus 14:19-20                 (ESV)

“[19] Then “THE ANGEL OF GOD” WHO was GOING BEFORE the host of Israel moved and WENT BEHIND them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, [20] coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night WITHOUT ONE COMING NEAR THE OTHER ALL NIGHT.”

Although I am “Brain Damaged” from the Brain Hemorrhage almost 20 years ago, my memory from my childhood is still pretty good!  One afternoon a thunderstorm came up and my family was in our house while the severe weather was making its presence known!!  A bolt of lightning flashed and the electrical breaker box “clicked”, and that was ALL I needed to cause me to run up to my grandparents house, maybe 200 feet away!!  

The Children of Israel were not so close to a secure place as I was, where they could “run and hide” from their enemy!  But their security wasn’t in a place, it was in “THE ANGEL OF GOD” WHO was GUIDING and DIRECTING their journey to the Promised Land!  They just didn’t UNDERSTAND WHO was GUIDING and DIRECTING their way!

From ALL OF MY PAST EXPERIENCES, no one should have a better understanding of WHO protects and guides me than this old country boy!  “THE ANGEL OF GOD” is ALWAYS with me, but I have to remind myself of that phenomenon more often than I should!!  The Children of Israel had just been delivered from Egyptian captivity, yet they were unwilling to TRUST “THE ANGEL OF GOD” to keep them from “the enemy”!!

There IS NOTHING that is BIGGER, NOTHING STRONGER, and NOTHING MORE COMPLETE than the LOVE and PROTECTION of “THE ANGEL OF GOD”!  HE moves all around us to secure us, EVEN WHEN we are unaware of HIS PRESENCE!!  There is NOTHING more secure than “THE ANGEL OF GOD”!!!

2,000 years ago!

 2,000+ years ago humanity went to bed thinking, some maybe even BELIEVING, that all HOPE was lost!!  

HOWEVER, when THE PLAN GOD was working on was carried out, THE HOPE WAS, AND STILL IS, IN THE CROSS!!!

 

“THE PEOPLE BEGAN COMPLAINING!”

 Numbers 11:1-3                   (HCSB)

“Now “THE PEOPLE BEGAN COMPLAINING” openly before the LORD about hardship. When the LORD heard, HIS anger burned, and fire from the LORD blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and he prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down. So that place was named Taberah, because the LORD’s FIRE HAD BLAZED AMONG THEM.”

It can be a bit easier to write about the sins of others, because their “punishment” is probably what they deserved!  But when I examine the sins of myself and the repercussions of those sins, the “punishment” takes on entirely different meaning!  I want to BEG for MERCY, because the suffering is not only on me, but on my most precious wife!  

The place where GOD was “dealing with” the complaints of the Israelites was “named Taberah, because the LORD’s FIRE HAD BLAZED AMONG THEM.”   Taberah literally means “Consumption, Burning, Cleaning Out”!  The Children of Israel had recently been delivered by their CREATOR from Egyptian captivity, and THEN GOD consumed the Egyptian army at the bottom of the Red Sea!  And THEN GOD provided manna every morning for them!  And THEN GOD provided water from a rock to satisfy their thirst!  If PROOF of HIS PROVIDENCE wasn’t enough for them to SEE via all of this, what else was it going to take???

But I am CERTAINLY NOT any more able to SEE HIS BLESSINGS than the Israelites were in the day!  Not only did I survive a “massive brain hemorrhage” in 2007, but less than a month after being released from the Rehab Hospital my doctor wrote “However, he has had a remarkable recovery that could only be defined as a MIRACLE FROM GOD”!

Almost ten years later I survived quadruple bypass heart surgery with amazing success and results!  Almost three years later from that surgery I had another “heart attack” as the “bypassed blockages” broke loose and went through my heart.  When the cardiologist “heart cath” the next morning, he reported that my heart had ABSOLUTELY NO BLOCKAGES!!  He was amazed, and I simply WAS NOT surprised!!!

The Israelites had experienced more than plenty of MIRACLES for them to KNOW WHO WAS IN CONTROL!!  Should I NOT be WELL AWARE WHO is in CONTROL of my life, and EVERYONE ELSE’s life???  I pray that “THE PEOPLE BEGAN COMPLAINING” will not be said about me as I await the DELIVERANCE to the PROMISED LAND!!!

“GOD SO LOVED!”