"Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, 'Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.' They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.' But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The LORD said, 'If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.' So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 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" (Genesis 11:1-9, NIV).
What do you feel toward whom or what you love?
Not only you have a nice feeling on the object of your love, but there is that feeling of great delight. In 1 Corinthians 13, we have the picture of it. What do we see in it? At the last part of verse 6, we read that love “rejoices with the truth.”
When we love, we rejoice. And we don’t just rejoice on anything. We rejoice with the truth.
So, when God commanded us to love Him “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind" (Luke 10:27), it’s for our great benefit.
God does not want us just to experience a temporary delight. He does not want us to rejoice only when nice things are happening to us. But, He wants us to “rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory” (1 Peter 1:8). That’s why He told us to love Him above all things. For He is the Supreme and Absolute Truth. No one or nothing in this world is as lovable as our God.
With that in mind, thinking that this Great and Lovable Being wants us to rejoice greatly, should we not consider Him also in whatever we do? Just for instance in making our plans. Should we make plans just for our benefit? What should dominate as we make a plan?
So, this time let’s examine a particular passage that should give us a better perspective in making our plans. Let us, then, explore our topic, WHEN MAKING PLANS, while we focus on our text (Gen. 11:1-9).
As we proceed, we will consider the important ingredient of making a plan: it’s intent. Is the plan just for the purpose of making a particular project successful? Is the plan intended just for the benefits that could be gained? What should be the important thing to consider as we make our plans?
In Genesis 5, it was pointed out that though men lived for several hundred years, yet God’s judgement on them was still executed: they died. However, we also saw that when God chose someone to receive His grace, in the case of Enoch, he was able to walk with God. And he did not experience death.
In chapter 6, it was related that God instructed Noah to build an ark. He would destroy all flesh by a great flood, for “the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen. 6:5).
In chapter 7, we read that for 40 days and 40 nights “rain fell upon the earth.” All men and animals and creeping things and birds were blotted out. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark were left.
In the early verses of chapter 8, it related that the waters had abated and God commanded Noah to “Go out from the ark…” (v. 15.)
In Genesis 9, we studied the blessings that God extended to Noah and his sons: the blessing of His command, the blessing of His decree, the blessing of His judgement and the blessing of His promise.
In verse 10, we could read about the sons born to the sons of Noah after the flood.
Now, in our text, we can see both what God and what man could do. And as the wrong action of man was related, we could also dig out at least two rights things to do in having a plan. What are those?
I – PLAN FOR THE FAME OF GOD (vv. 1-4).
We read verses 1-4, “Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
After the flood, men began to multiply as shown in chapter 10. In our passage they manifested again their arrogance. What did they plan to do? We read, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens that we may make a name for ourselves…”
They planned to make a huge monument for themselves. They planned to build a city that they could be together in one place. They exhibited the human pride of defying the instruction of their Creator. He instructed the first man to “fill the earth” as we read in Gen. 1:28. It was also repeated in Gen. 9:1, as God instructed Noah “to fill the earth.”
However, instead of promoting God’s fame by obeying Him, they planned to promote their human accomplishment.
What they reflected was the rebellious and proud attitude of the first parents. Be reminded of what Adam and Eve did. Instead of being grateful and loving the Creator, who placed them in paradise, they disbelieved His Word. They disobeyed Him.
Instead of submitting to His rule, they succumbed to the human pride of elevating themselves – to become like God. They wanted to determine for themselves what is right and what is evil.
They didn’t take into account the great goodness they enjoyed from the Good God. They did not want to promote and carry out His command. Their desire was to promote and carry out what they could achieve for themselves.
And those people after the flood failed also to consider the good things extended to them by God. They did not appreciate that God saved their forefathers from the flood. There was no affection in their heart for the One who made possible for them to live. So, they did not have the desire to honor or promote His Holy Name. It was easy for them to plan not for the fame of God.
However, the attitude of King David was different. Notice the first few verses of 2 Samuel 7:
“After the king was settled in his palace and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him, he said to Nathan the prophet, ‘Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.’ Nathan replied to the king, ‘Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the LORD is with you’” (vv. 1-3).
David was settled in his palace. God had given him rest and peace from his enemies. He now enjoyed the good things in life. So, what was in his mind? What do you think would be his plan?
In verse 5, the Lord declared that David wanted to build a house for God. David’s plan was for the fame of God.
Believers or lovers of Jesus, whenever you plan for something, do you also consider to promote God? Do you plan for His fame?
The people who built a city with a high tower had not suffered through the flood. Yet, they failed to acknowledge the great favor they enjoyed. Do we appreciate that we are not going to suffer through the lake of fire? Are we so grateful for the favor? Could we have the affection for the Savior who suffered and died for us, so we could not be punished for our own sins? Could we afford to make plans just for our own advantage and benefits?
It’s wise to make good plans. But plan primarily for the fame of God. For His glory. Do not plan just for what it seems right in our own eyes, or what is ideal in the world. Make plans that will be in accord with the will of God.
King David planned to build a house for God. We are going to be kings in God’s Kingdom. Let it be in our mind and heart to build God’s spiritual house – corporately or individually.
Plan to build GCF membership – numerically and spiritually. Plan and pray to build the unity of the church. Plan to build ourselves, as the dwelling of the Holy Spirit, by becoming more familiar with God’s Word.
Don’t be like a carnal Christian – desiring, planning for and fulfilling the desires of the flesh. Be a spiritual Christian. Be filled and be controlled by the Spirit. Always reading, studying, meditating the Word. Planning for the fame of God.
What else should we do in considering our plan?
II – PULL UP FROM UNGODLY PLAN (vv. 5-9).
Pull up or cease, desist, terminate, stop a plan that you find contrary to God’s Will.
We read verses 5-9, “But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The LORD said, ‘If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.’ So the LORD scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. 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.”
“But the Lord came down to see…” – the writer is just “humanizing” the description on how God was investigating what the men were doing. And if God would not intervene, there would be nothing impossible for men to plan for more activities that would promote their arrogance and rebellion.
But God is truly Sovereign. Nothing or no one can thwart or prevent His plan. He wanted to fill the earth with people. So, He was able to scatter the people, who wanted to concentrate in one place. They stopped what they were doing not because of their own choice. The Sovereign God confused their language.
To make ungodly plan would bring undesirable result. In the book of Esther, a Persian official by the name of Haman persuaded the king to issue a decree to destroy all the Jews in his kingdom. Haman also planned to hang Mordecai, a Jew and relative of Hadassah (Esther). But the gallows he built to hang Mordecai was used by the king to hang Haman instead.
Remember Jonah. He planned to go against the Will of God. Instead of obeying God to go to Nineveh, Jonah decided to go to Tarshish in the opposite direction. And where did he arrive at? Inside the belly of the big fish!
In our time, there are various and many plans in the mind of people. Ordinary or average men have plans. Powerful and famous men have big plans. Leaders of nations plan for so-called national interest. And even religious leaders make plans. You and I have plans.
But are those plans in accord with God’s plan? Are they in line with His Sovereign Will?
The Master Planner did not send a big fish to terminate those plans. He sent a very small thing, even unseen by the naked eyes, called covid 19 virus. No matter how big, how effective the plan is, if it is out of tune with God’s Will, it will end up in a big problem or in a confusion or in a disaster.
So, believers or lovers of Jesus in GCF, if we find that our plan is not in step with God’s way, we need to desist from it. Terminate it. Let us not wait for God to do it for us. Let us not wait for another wave of covid virus to stop us. Let us not wait for a big problem to envelope us. Let us not wait for whatever confusion to trouble us.
Is there anything in our mind or heart that we are doing and drawing us away from God, from His Word, from His people? Abandon it. When we realize that our plan is going against God’s Sovereign will, let’s abstain from it.
Let us not insist on our “monumental” plan. Let us not imitate the steel-headedness of Hitler. During WWII, he planned to invade Russia.
When his army was almost surrounded by the Russian troops in Stalingrad, German generals advised Hitler to order the army to pull back. But he responded, “Where a German soldier sets his foot, there he remains.” And the result? According to history, it was “the first of Hitler’s field armies to surrender during World War 2.”
When our plan is not according to God’s Will, we are marching against more than the strongest and most powerful army in the world! It’s better to retreat. We have no resources or strength to engage. Our defeat or destruction is certain.
So, it’s best that we are marching with the Sovereign God – the Divine Force in the Universe. Our resources will not be wasted if our plan is in harmony with His Will.
Be familiar with the things pleasing in His Holy Sight. Be filled with the knowledge of His Will through reading, studying, meditating on His Word. Let us not hold on to anything that pulls us away from doing ungodly things. Forsake the plan, let go the practice, pull up from anything that would prevent us from loving God with all our heart, with all your soul, with all our strength and with all our mind.
CONCLUSION:
We value what defines our person – I mean, if we are addressed as Dr., Atty., Engr., Honorable, His Excellency, etc., we treasure it. But in the Book of John, we saw what the Apostle valued most to define himself.
Not only twice, or thrice that he addressed himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. If we read through the Gospel of John, we could find at least five times that he mentioned those words.
Do we really feel that we are loved by Jesus? Like John could we also identify or describe ourselves as “whom Jesus loved”? We need to pray that what John felt would also be experienced by us. The Apostle had no monopoly for it.
Besides, if we value and believe and experience it, no matter what negative things that others will say, no matter what negative things will happen to us… our response, I am loved by Jesus.
And because we are loved by Jesus, we’ll be more motivated to plan for the fame of God and to pull up from any ungodly plan.
