God's Purposes
Trump Human Pride Gen. 11:1-9, 27-32
Jan. 06, 2008
Introduction
Do you ever stand amazed at how God works to accomplish His purposes? I
certainly do! Sometimes I try to
figure out how He will accomplish a particular feat, and many times
when He works He does it in a manner
beyond my wildest imagination. There are times in history and today
when human pride gets in the way and
seems to make God's will humanly more difficulty to accomplish. This
produces the situations where, God's
Purposes Trump Human Pride.
1. God's Purposes Trumps Human . .
Plans. 11:1-4
A. God Trumps Human . .
Ascetic Plans. 11:1-2
1 At one time the whole earth had the same language and
vocabulary. 2 As people migrated from the east, they found a valley
in the land of Shinar and settled there.
B. God's Trumps Human . .
Architectural Plans. 11:3-4
3 They said to each other, "Come, let us make oven-fired bricks." They
had brick for stone and asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, "Come,
let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let
us make a name for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered over the
face of the whole earth."
The people in our text chose a place of
ascetic beauty for their civilization. Today on some occasions men
choose the most ascetic places for their dwellings. It seems they think
they have arrived because their homes
become the talk of the town. They may even be on the television program
called, "homes of the rich and
famous." In verse four the people wanted to make a name for themself
with their architectural plans. But the
one who made the heavens and the earth is not impressed. God can thwart
mans plans and make great
confusion just by confusing the tongues so the speech become
unintelligible. That had to be a humorous scene.
2. God's Purposes Trump Human
. . Perspectives. 11:5-7
A. God Trumps Human
Perspectives Through . . Superior Power. 11:5-6
5 Then the Lord came down to look over the city and the
tower that the men were building. 6 The Lord said, "If, as one
people all having the same language, they have begun to do this,
then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
B. God Trumps Human
Perspectives Through . . Speech Problems. 11:7
7 Come, let Us go down there and confuse their language so that they
will not understand one another's speech."
On many occasions our perspectives
concerning live differ from those of the Lord. Because of His superior
power our perspective many times seem to limit what He will do. God
knew what the people in the text were
planning and He must have smiled, because He knew His superior power
would not allow them to succeed. Would you have though of stopping the
peoples plans simply but causing a speech problem? What a simple
solution. Then and now people some times think they can accomplish
their most cherished plans but never seek
God's preferences or wisdom.
3. God's Purposes Trump Human
. . Populating. 11:27-32
A. God Trumps Human
Populating Through His . . Family Trees. 11:27-29
27 These are the family records of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor,
and Haran, and Haran fathered Lot. 28 Haran died in his native
land, in Ur of the Chaldeans, during his father Terah's lifetime.
29 Abram and Nahor took wives: Abram's wife was named Sarai, and
Nahor's wife was named Milcah. Shewas the daughter of Haran, the father
of both Milcah and Iscah.
B. God Trumps Human
Populating Through His . . Family Touch. 11:30-32
30 Sarai was barren; she had no child. 31 Terah took his son Abram, his
grandson Lot (Haran's son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son
Abram's wife, and they set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go
to the land of Canaan. But when they came to Haran, they settled there.
32 Terah lived 205 years and died in Haran. HCSB
In my
opinion the male ego brags, and projects more pride about their
families than do
the ladies. I do not have any proof for my opinion but it is my
observation. As you read the
listing of the family members it would seem Terah might posses great
pride in his family tree. He does not seem to recognize God has
a plan
for this family and will chose Abram to bless all
the nations of the world. What might God do with your family? I must
confess to pride (I hope
properly held) for my children and grandchildren. All of our families
need the a family touch
from God. I desire for His touch on all of my family. Wouldn't
we all
think it would be great
to acknowledge His family touch on all our children, and grandchildren?
I will have a funeral
this week and I wonder how much the deceased really desired God's
family touch. His touch
obviously makes a difference for we know, God's Purposes
Trump Human Pride. Amen? Amen!
