Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Identity in Christ marked by Baptism

Bible Reading: Genesis 11:7-24
Key verse:  

V 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.”

DEVOTION

Our Scripture Reading today is from very familiar passage in the Book of Genesis- Chapter 11 on the incidents surrounding the Tower of Babel and the introduction of our patriarch Abram (later known as Abraham). This chapter addresses human beings and their burning ambition to be unified and self-sufficient, that lead to divine intervention, scattering humans to all corners of the world.

Our reading starts with verse 7, whereby we read the divine intervention to confuse human language and thus end up in the scattering of humans, to inhabit all parts of the world.  We see this as perhaps one of the first instance in the introduction of human diversity, promoting cultural pluralism and human distribution by geographies.

The next section of our reading focuses from verse 10 to 26 on the genealogy of Shem, one of Noah’s sons. The biblical narrative traces the ancestry from Shem to Abram. We see a familiar recuring pattern in verses that follow, in the continuation of generation, divine providence from God, and introduction of Terah, father of Abram, Nahor and Haran. We see the concluding verse in Chapter 11, the introduction of Abram who is central figure in the narrative in Chapter 11. Abram’s life and his journey of faith and covenant with God will shape the course of Biblical history as we read in the initial chapters of the Book of Genesis.

As we focus on the pragmatic application from the scripture reading, we must understand that human pride, coupled with an ambition to build a tower to reach the heavens was blatant act to disobey God and challenge the authority of God. God divine intervention followed by the shaping and destiny of mankind is lesson for all of us. We need to reflect on our own ambitions, our attitudes and our reliance on God ‘s guidance in our lives. We need to understand that God is sovereign and we will do well to listen to God’s leading in our human lives.

 

PRAYER

"Almighty and Gracious Lord, enable us to be led by the guidance of God, who is Sovereign and who knows what is best for our lives and not depend on our human pride and disobedience, all this we pray in the precious name of Lord and Jesus Christ. Amen.”

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
“God’s mercy is so great that you may sooner drain the sea of its water or deprive the sun of its light, then diminish the great mercy of God”  – Charles Spurgeon



 
Abraham Kurien

Houston Immanuel Mar Thoma Church.

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