Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad. Genesis 11:4.
Some of the descendants of Noah soon began to apostatize…. They journeyed a distance … and selected a large plain wherein to dwell. There they built a city, and then conceived the idea of erecting a large tower to reach unto the clouds, that they might dwell together in the city and tower, and be no more scattered. They reasoned that they would secure themselves in case of another flood, for they would build their tower to a much greater height than the waters prevailed in the time of the Flood, and all the world would honor them…. Before the work of building was accomplished, people dwelt in the tower. Rooms gorgeously furnished and decorated were devoted to their idols….—The Signs of the Times, March 20, 1879.
But among the people of Babel there were living some God-fearing persons who had been deceived by the pretensions of the ungodly and drawn into their schemes. These would not join this confederacy to thwart the purposes of God. They refused to be deceived by the wonderful representations and the grand outlook. For the sake of these faithful ones, the Lord delayed His judgments and gave the people time to reveal their true character….
This confederacy was born of rebellion against God. The dwellers on the plain of Shinar established their kingdom for self-exaltation, and not for the glory of God…. Determined individuals, inspired by the first great rebel, would have been urged on by him and would have permitted nothing to interfere with their plans or to stop them in their evil course. In the place of the divine precepts they would have substituted laws framed in accordance with the desires of their selfish hearts, in order that they might carry out their purposes.
But God never leaves the world without witnesses for Him. Those who loved and feared Him at the time of the first great apostasy after the Flood humbled themselves and cried unto Him. “O God,” they pleaded, “interpose Thyself between Thy cause and the plans and methods of men.”“And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.” …
God bears long with the perversity of human beings, giving them ample opportunity for repentance, but He marks all their devices to resist the authority of His just and holy law. As an evidence of His displeasure over the building of this tower, He confounded the language of the builders, so that none could understand the words of fellow workers.—Manuscript 94, 1903 (Manuscript Releases 8:42, 43)
Christ Triumphant p. 69
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Prayer Requests
—–Please pray that they will find a missing mission helicopter with the pilot, nurse, patient, and a couple of other people. Some debris has been found floating in the water. That does not sound good….
—–Eye infection has come back in left eye pls pray for healing and for wisdom what to do to cooperate with God in healing and for strength. Andree
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Dear Friends,
Sunday is Ron’s 74th birthday. It reminds me of another birthday that he had about fifteen years ago or so. The evening before his birthday, Ron and I went to a pre-retirement seminar. I had gone there with an idea that in a year I could retire. As the man spoke, it soon became apparent that it was doubtful. Still I thought and planned different ways around what he was saying. On the way home, however, Ron told me that because I was the one carrying our insurance, there was no way I could retire early at 62. I was so disappointed.
The rest of the evening, I was feeling very sorry for myself. It’s not that I was unhappy at work. On the contrary, I loved my job and was very happy there. Yet, I had built up some false hopes that were not practical for someone who was still in debt. Ron tried to comfort me by saying that as soon as we got our bills paid off, I could retire. I was still wallowing in self-pity and looking at the negative side of that statement. I knew that every time we were almost there, something major would break and had to be replaced, so I pictured myself working until the day I died.
Just before going to bed, I checked my email. I saw one from Kayla, a young woman who was expecting her second child. For the past month or two, she had been having trouble with her pregnancy. Her blood pressure had skyrocketed, and the last three weeks she began to leak amniotic fluid. The doctor had told her to stay in bed. That day she had gone to the doctor expecting to find the date when she would have a C-section. Instead, the doctor could not find a heartbeat. How heartbroken Kayla and her family were. In the email she told me that she be having surgery the next day to remove her dead baby. How very sad.
As I wrote a note of sympathy and encouragement, I began to contrast my little disappointment with her gigantic one. Kayla’s problems really put things in perspective. How selfish I realized I was by my tearful attitude just because my plans and dreams were not going to work out the way I had desired. Compared to Kayla’s disappointment, mine was nothing. Compared to her loss, mine was of no account.
How easy it is to get all caught up in our self, our wants, our needs, our hopes, our agenda. Indeed, our biggest battle is with self. Jesus gave a parable about a man who was all wrapped up in self. “The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” Luke 12:16-20
Serving self is not God’s way. We are to become like Him. He, Who put our needs ahead of His, wants us to do the same for others. He, Who “gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father,” longs for us to live a selfless life as well. Gal 1:4 He, Whom all Heaven adored, went through the Gethsemane experience for us, offering “up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.” Heb 5:7-9 He, Who created all things, “humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” Phil 2:8 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” John 3:16,17
“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” Rom 12:1-3
Rose