“Come, let us build… so that we may make a name for ourselves.” (Genesis 11:4, NIV)
You may be one of those golfers who readily change equipment, as though there’s no such thing as a “trusty old friend.” May I just humbly say, I don’t understand you.
Don’t take offense. I’m just the other kind of golfer. I’ve used no more than three putters in the 30 years since I stopped playing college golf. Several generations of driver upgrades have missed out on my money—and the driver I have is a hand-me-down at that!
But let me tell you why. It’s simple, really. I’m just not convinced that the manufacturer who tells me he’s got it all figured out actually has it all figured out. For one thing, if he did, he wouldn’t be coming out with another model next year. So I wait, thinking that if God wants me to have the perfect equipment, he’ll make it for me.
OK, that part’s not true. I don’t really anticipate God reaching down from the sky and handing me a driver forged in heaven. But the contrast is interesting to think about. What if I could choose between the best designs of men and the one design of God? Isn’t the choice obvious?
We should be tempted to say yes. But the account of the building of the tower in Babel suggests something very different.
At this stage of Old Testament history, the people of earth—at least a representative group of them—had settled in a wide plain, where they began to imagine big things, as people still are apt to do. But imagining what is best and consulting the Lord are two vastly different things; get it wrong and all you have are the best designs of men pitted against the one design of God.
The people in Babel proposed building a city with a tower as its centerpiece, a tower so big that it would “reach to the heavens.” They were certain they could make a way to God. The Lord would not allow it. He found their hubris destructive, out of order, a breakdown in his plan. And he thwarted it, knowing all along that what man needed was for God to come to him. This would happen in the person of Jesus Christ. And it would be the perfect design for all time.
—
Jeff Hopper
February 6, 2015
Copyright 2015 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.
OTHER DEVOTIONS IN THIS SERIES
The Narrative of Scripture, Part 1
The Narrative of Scripture, Part 2
The Narrative of Scripture, Part 4
The Narrative of Scripture, Part 5
The Narrative of Scripture, Part 6
The Narrative of Scripture, Part 7
The Narrative of Scripture, Part 8