God is faithful and good. God is sovereign. God is our redeemer.
Quick Review:
Before we get to this week's summary, we've made it halfway through Act 3: Rebellion, and I would like us to review where we've come from, remembering how faithful and good our God is. I want us to truly see how patient He is as our Sovereign Redeemer.
So let's break it down week-by-week:
Week 1: Who began the rebellion? Satan began the rebellion against God.
Week 2: How did humanity respond? We listened to Satan and responded to God in disobedience.
Week 3: What is the consequence of rebellion? Separation from God and a broken relationship with Him.
Week 4: How does sin and death spread? A lack of faith and humility, which increases our pride and spreads destruction.
Week 5: What is God’s response to sin? We are handed over to our own desires and given a choice of whom we will serve.
Keep this progression in mind as we move on to this week's question:
How does sinful man respond to God?
Act Three: Rebellion, Week 6
In our study this week, we get to see sinful man's response to God play out in narrative form in the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11. In fact, we see weeks 4 & 5's questions play out in this narrative as well.
Ultimately in Babel (which will become Babylon), a lack of faith in the one true God causes the people's rebellious behavior to reach new heights. The people took a page out of Satan's playbook and pridefully attempted to be like God, seeking to make a name for themselves.
Stop and consider for a moment our own sinful hearts and the areas of doubt we struggle with every day. Soon, we will see a lack of faith in His love, His power, His forgiveness, mercy, and grace. If faith is the engine that drives us to the feet of Jesus, then a lack of faith propels us to go our own way down the path of darkness and rebellion—the path of Babel.
Honestly, when I consider my faith, I wonder if I, like Noah, would have built a boat in the wilderness and waited years for the rain to come. Would I have anxiety in a storm that destroyed the entire earth, even when God promised He would save me and my family? Would I have confidence to get off the ark, believing in the promise He gave, or would I stay in my safe spot out of fear that the flood would come again? Would I lack the faith to believe that God intended for His people to be scattered over the earth, or would I cling desperately to like-minded people in order to be accepted, noticed, and important? Would I have attempted to be like God, as Babel did? In Babel, the people didn’t trust God fully. Do we? How do we respond to the Author of our story when doubts creep in?
"Man's response is to either accept God's perfect judgment and His gift of forgiveness through Christ or to continue in rebellion trying to find his own way." – Sheri Bailey (Tuesday am Bible Study)
“God, the Father, is Holy and Majestic. He loves us even when we choose to be disobedient. But, because He is sovereign and just, He must correct us. Our pride makes us think we know what is best for ourselves, but we are often miserable with our choice (like the people of Babel)” – Susan Noll (Thursday pm Bible Study)
“Our sinful nature drives us to contrive our own plan to make a name for ourselves and exalt ourselves to God’s position. When we make our own plans for our lives, and fail to acknowledge God and His will, we are behaving exactly like the people who were building the Tower of Babel." – Holly Orefice (Saturday am Bible Study)
It wasn’t that God didn’t want the people to work together, it was that He wanted them to work for Him, serving Him above themselves. This week's study leaves me seeking Jesus alone and asking Him to show me, teach me, and refine in me the ways I have made a name for myself. How have I not served Him? How am I like Babel, whose "sins are heaped high as heaven" (Revelation 18:5)?
For every reason, God's story should end right here, with the people humbled and scattered, but it doesn't. God has only begun to show us His faithfulness and goodness. He is sovereign, so despite everyone who "walks their own rebellious way," we know He is our great redeemer and is telling His great story. Therefore, we will keep on reading, abiding, and serving Him.
Despite our rebellious tendencies, “We want to glorify and praise him with a 'new song' (Revelation 5:9), honor him, put our trust in him, and transfer ownership of ourselves to God. Not just with our mouths but with our whole being (body and soul). We realize we have nothing to offer but EVERYTHING to gain in serving him. Jesus’s blood is freely offered to redeem every tribe, language, people, and nation if we are willing to submit, and have faith enough to receive it as payment for our sin.” – Christine Tatum (Tuesday am Bible Study)
A Special Note About The Rebellion:
Why are we spending so much time in the rebellion? Why are we looking at all the ways sinful man responds to God? If you are crying out, “How much longer...?", you are in good company with Asaph who wrote Psalm 77:7-9:
“Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger shut up his compassion?”
God wants us to feel the rebellion. He wants us to sit in it. To acknowledge in our own hearts the ways we have rebelled against Him. What treason have we committed? God is serious about sin! He doesn't ignore it or hurry through it, and we shouldn't either. We must remember that He is our righteous judge. We're just like Babel. Today, yes today, He is doing a work in our hearts that we cannot understand or imagine. As our impatience for our Savior grows, and we long to get to the part of the story with salvation and grace, I pray that through this part of the study, our eyes will open to how patient God is with our rebellious ways. He is our sovereign redeemer. He is our rescuer and He is coming!
Hold on, my sisters! Jesus is coming, and so will Act 4: Rescue. After so much time pondering what we have been rescued from, it is going to shine bright into the darkness.
♥️ Meghan
