Togetherness Without God

Togetherness Without God

10/29/17

It would seem to the logical person that being unified with each other is the optimal living condition.  However, during this process of striving to be unified, many times we forget who has given us the opportunity to want such conditions and it is this loss of truth that dooms us every time our hearts become set on glorious togetherness.  It has been proven many times throughout human history that one cannot find this utopia no matter how hard we try.  God begs to differ with us concerning this matter in the fact that He understands complete unity and wishes for us to live in this state again, yes again.  But we cannot achieve this condition unless we give our hearts back to Him completely and follow His Ways without having any part of self-overriding His authority.  We want this truth to be fulfilled in our lives but not willing to approach the correct way in order to achieve it, what silliness we present to God.  Real change comes in the form of giving our hearts to God, not the world.

The past few weeks have been a tad tense in our family for we have been dealing with a medical situation that while may not affect all of us directly it had a profound effect on all of our hearts.  A serious procedure was completed one that required many different medical departments to coordinate with each other in order for the procedure to be successful.  We understood that this setting was not specifically made for our family and that it had been completed numerous times before our family had to be exposed and then participate in such a measure.  But when our family was introduced to such a setting our eyes were opened just how delicate and intricate this entire process is and how unity needs to be present at all levels of participation when the activities begin.

Each department must have the adequate and accurate information present and before others when the time comes for the process to become active.  No one can be left behind or withhold any information because if one item is not studied accurately the entire procedure can go horribly wrong.  When one deals with a human life all angles must be covered and identified before any major task is taken for if corners are cut in any area death could be a result when the procedure is undertaken.  Personnel that deals with this type of major procedure demand accurate and timely medical information because without it the success rate of said procedures cannot be achieved and then maintained, it takes cooperation with all departments and all of them working together to provide such results.  All who have worked in the medical field have struggled with other departments not fully understanding the importance of the other, but in order for major transplant, surgical, orthopedic, internist, and even GP teams to work effectively to provide such quality of results they must understand that all departments of the medical profession must be in agreement together.  Working together establishes a unity that is hard to break because a developed trust and dependence on the complete team has been achieved and then represents an awesome feeling that everyone not directly involved sees. 

I find it amazing that different institutions throughout this country are trying to hijack other industries by intervening in situations that they have no idea about.  These other institutions have representatives that spout off their thoughts and frustrations without even understanding what all is involved.  All sides may have vested interests in such operations but unless one is directly in the know about what an institution does then those other opinions should stay away from such theories and dissertations.  Would you want a barber assisting a neurosurgeon because both professions deal with the human head?  So, why do western societies believe that all occupations can benefit from non-revenue organizations?  Think about this for a moment and if one believes logically it is an easy answer to come up with, yet we continue to bark up the wrong trees when it comes to this type of problem-solving and working together.  I am so thankful that no barber or plumber took part in the family procedure this past week, for it would have concerned this medical professional quite terrible. 

Why is it that humans deem necessary to incorporate their thinking and patterns into areas that are not related to what they have no experience in?  Why isn’t it easy for those who understand a setting just take care of it so that it does not occur again and another similar procedure be repeated?  These questions bring into play the idea that humans can work together but usually have differing opinions about how to solve the problem, want an example, just look at Congress or other democracies that are alive around the world.  Even though they are scattered they still have the opportunity to get their acts together and work together for their common good.  Our problem is that we have reached an area of our existence where we have come to the conclusion that humans know better than any deity and thus do not need such presence in order to come together and work to provide decent results.  An issue that most people fail to realize is that unless we incorporate God back into our lives and place Him first again, He is going to have to show us who is in control by reproducing conditions that are not favorable to our way of existence.

We have a great example of this pattern in the Bible that we can learn from before God has to orchestrate another disaster.  It is a popular story in the Old Testament and one that has been used many times throughout Church History as well.  The story occurs in Genesis Chapter 11 and more specifically it deals with the tower of Babel and what it meant to the people and to God at that time.  It also has a great example of God’s mercy in it as well, one that relates to our working together in the manner to which we are today.

Genesis 11:1-6 gives us this detailed story about the people working together to build a tower as a sign of unity but without God as their foundation and it is this aspect that God wants us to understand in this article.  For when mankind decides to complete their ideas and issues without Him being first, only bad things can come from such accomplishments, no matter how much humanity comes together.  Some may ask why does this matter as long as things are accomplished and completed for the greater good of life?  It is this question that defines Kingdom and how kingdom is represented and portrayed through our lives for if God is not present and first then the enemy’s kingdom receives the glory and the advancement for it is written and should be known that mankind cannot serve two masters.

Genesis 11:1 gives us the setting and the reasoning of why God has to deal with the people during this time.  “And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.”  This verse at first glance does not seem to represent too much information about life on earth, pretty much unified and if true would mean that everyone would be living in close proximity with each other as well for this verse would not be a true statement if other types of living conditions existed.  We know that speech is the basic level of communication with each other and if one does not understand another, then humans tend to shy away from them and whoever else they associate.  It would seem like humanity was leaning towards getting their act together especially since the flood was not too in the distant past, yet for some reason, the tone being set in this single verse has a holy and divine “but” coming and it does not take long for God to explain Himself about this matter.

Another issue or setting we must keep in mind about this verse is that the people were still together now meaning that everyone was centered around one area and when they moved if they moved, would do such activity altogether as well.  What is the significance to this?  Well, remember back in Genesis Chapter 4 when God was talking to Cain and Cain was complaining about those who found him would want to kill him because of the act he committed to his brother?  This means that the majority of people lived close to each other as well thus shared many commonalities between each other, a pattern which God saw at that point but not visible to us until verse 4 of this chapter and the traveling issues in verses 2-3 of this chapter.

Verse 4 of Chapter 11 states the following and gives us the reasoning and state of mind of the population: “And they said, Go to, 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 upon the face of the whole earth.”  We know from the previous chapters of Genesis that people living together were common and that they built cities was also not unusual and when these entities are present then it is also known that monuments and other identifying characteristics of each place would be present.  Once again, we find that humanity has come together to organize and then complete areas of living that would seem on the surface to be what human lifestyles and progression would be all about.    

But there is a difference in this verse that I had never realized until a short time ago and this verse gives us a picture of what direction the hearts of these people were heading, and we can see this by what they did not say instead of what they said.  The first portion of the verse the people are making a statement about where and how they wanted to live, not much wrong with this on the surface even when mentioning the monument (tower).  The next phrase that says that they wanted the top to reach heaven brings in the first concern for it depicts the state of their beliefs in that they wanted to elevate themselves and their tower up to heaven where they believed God was at.  This is a clear sign that they had already forgotten the truth about what had caused the flood some time back and had already “progressed” way beyond the truthful idea that God may have to operate in such a manner again.  Bringing God down to our level of existence is a human pattern that we see many times throughout the Bible, a pattern that is so selfish and yet so common, so common that I myself must admit that I have believed I could do this act and be justified by this process.

The middle portion of verse 4 gives us the main ingredient of how the people thought and also gives us a question to ponder at the same time.  “and let us make a name, lest we be scattered” also serves as a prophecy to which would soon be fulfilled.  Not much is known about the people and the civilization that lived before the flood.  Yes, we have the biblical accounts and those alone will keep us informed enough to understand what was ongoing in their minds, but these remembrances of the past must have been weighing on this generation’s hearts for they wanted to ensure that people remembered them even if they were scattered from each other.  It is this portion of the verse that tells us that they had drummed up the concept that at some point they could be torn away from everyone else and that when this occurred that they did not want their portion of people to be forgotten.  This portion of Scripture also gives us a glimpse of humanity in that they were concerned about their past, the present, and their future and more importantly that these people were human and that they had the same characteristics as we do today.

The portion that speaks volumes here is that they made all of these plans and goals but in doing so they mentioned nothing about God or making any type of thankful sacrifice to Him for the kindness that He had given them.  Everything that is mentioned in this verse directly relates to the human and not God.  It could not have been too far back that the flood occurred, and through this verse of what they wanted to do they too remembered what had occurred, but even with the remembrance of the judgment from God they had already blocked Him from their hearts.  How far had this blockage gone?  I refer you to Genesis Chapter 4 when Cain built his sacrifice according to his works instead of the importance and remembrance of the shedding of blood and look what occurred shortly after that incident.  As Cain’s attitude and actions progressed so would the people’s again against God, but God already knew what was going on. 

Verse 5 gives us another clue about God in that He talks and communicates through the manner of speaking or of words.  For He says that He is to go down and see for Himself what they are doing and to verify that what the actions of their hearts are being reflected in the physical reflections as well.  God understood that the focus and centerpiece of their hearts were upon their tower and city which they had built, there was no dedication of the city or the tower to God or any type of thanksgiving towards God for allowing them to survive together or even to have any acknowledgement of God on any level, none was there.  It was this act that broke God’s heart and once in for all convinced God that unless He changed the setting another hard choice concerning the earth’s population would have to be challenged, a promise that had been made never to do again; can you see the work of the worldly kingdom and its ruler here?  It is a pure example of how Lucifer gets intertwined with humans and then once allowed to operate goes to work in advancing his kingdom unabated.  When this type of kingdom rule is in place, it does not matter what guards people have up to protect togetherness and survival it shall fail because the reliance on self-preservation alone cannot withstand the ruler of the world only the protection of God can provide such a protective covering. God explains this truth in verse 6.

Verse 6 gives us the response that God has for the people and while God is speaking He uses a specific word that defines exactly what is going on the hearts of the people and proves His point that if He does not act worldly progression shall continue.  Verse 6 states: “And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.”  The words of God in this verse serve as a living testimony to mankind in that they will complete their assigned beliefs when they put their minds together and work towards achieving that goal.  While this should be a good quality for it is one that God gave to us, God sees a pattern here that brings back memories of a time not so long before where He had to make a decision about humanity, one that cost many lives and the earth its living status.  God understood with these first few words of the verse that mankind once again had the opportunity to reach their goals in life but complete such tasks without His presence.  It is this lack of God’s presence in the hearts of mankind that troubled God and with this information He had to change the setting before the inevitable occurred.

Construction and life during this time period must have been pretty well normalized for such a time for through the people’s own admission they had everything under their control and it seemed like they could accomplish all things together.  The importance of self-survival and self-preservation instead of relying on God for this assurance is a dangerous position to take and it is common for humans to take such a stance not knowing of the consequences of these actions.  God uses a word here that defines what the ability of mankind has within if they place their desires into motion.  These desires can be achieved with or without God for it is a process that God gave us as a portion of choice yet it is amazing that if we choose the world God also has built within our lives a small connection to Him that serves as a beacon that shines so that we can see when times become difficult.  This word “begin” that God uses here in this verse defines this difficulty and it also provides the truth about who really cares about our lives as well.

The word “begin” in verse 6 comes from the root word “chalal” which means to pierce.  Now, when something is pierced it means that some other object is penetrating the normal in order to gain access to the other side of that normal.  This means that some force must be needed in order to complete such a task.  When we think about something piercing something else we usually think of something sharp and pointed at the tip of the object but this does not necessarily have to be the case.  However, in most cases, the tip or beginning of the object usually makes the first contact with the surface and when forced makes a gash that corresponds with its beginning point.  Then the body of the object moves through the penetrated area and it is the body that is larger than the beginning point which further opens the site allowing the object to completely enter the opening.  When the point first enters the remaining parts of the object are not involved as of that moment but within a certain amount of time, the remaining portions will be, causing further damage.  This is a process and one that is active and going in a certain manner.  When a person is using a knife, board, stick, shovel, pitchfork, or any other object to pierce something the leverage of the object comes as the object goes into the subject making it easier to handle or move, and if it is going into a heart easier to kill.

God saw this pattern emerging again in the human mind and with the promise that God made to all living life after the flood, God had no choice but to change the plans of the human before complete trouble transcribed the new start of humanity.  See, when we take matters into our own hands and rely completely on ourselves the jobs that we complete cannot be perfect or the best that we have to offer because we are basing our results on flawed existences and thus reaping the benefits of such damaged work.  That is why God wants us to rely on Him for our ideas and plans which means that our futures are completely invalid as well, a setting which God cannot bear to watch unfold.  The thoughts and actions of humanity before the flood had to begin somewhere and just like many other conditions in the Bible, God had to take action.  For some reason, humans like to believe that if God strikes in one manner before the present day, that He will not use the same manner or another similar one to get His point across to His people, why do we challenge God in such a way?

As mentioned above, God recognizes that mankind has the ability to achieve all that they imagined doing.  This is a wonderful thought and an accolade to our existence, one to be proud of and to really strive to obtain, but since God mentioned this detail about us it means that He recognizes a characteristic of ours that He placed into our hearts and one that can only be fulfilled with Him as our guide.  Previously, God had watched all of civilization coming together and evil taking hold over every thought an unimaginable process that God once again could not all, so instead of waiting God acted and through a stroke of genius split the people into groups trying to show them the importance of placing God first.

In verse 6 we also find that God is ready to scatter the people abroad ironically confirming their own beliefs but on a completely different level and reasoning.  In verse 7 we see that God begins His process by first confounding the languages of the people and it becomes clear that at some point in verse 7 He allows no further communication techniques worthy of unity to occur.  This must have placed panic in people with now no way of talking with each other.  All progress in the area stopped including the work on the city along with any other projects.  In verse 8 we see that God takes His plan a step further and scatters the people from their one civilization, I can only imagine how much chaos and confusion there must have been in that sizable community after God confused their only logical communication status than to have them be so disorganized that they moved away from these confines to pursue a life by themselves.  Having moved many times in my life I understand this setting, but I had no communication issues to contend with and I knew exactly the reason why we were doing such a process.

Most of us tend to stop here at this story in God’s Word and there is nothing wrong with this for it has delivered its message quite clearly.  It is imperative that we understand and remember that our lives were and are still built in God’s image that means that He is in us no matter if we care to admit it or not.  This truth also means that God will do His best to keep us safe from all charges against us even if we do not understand what is occurring around us.  Many times our actions get us into trouble simply because we do not seek God and His will for our lives before we act and if we continually form this type of pattern in our lives, eventually we will hold true to the world and push God out completely.

This may seem to be a minor detail to some but we must consider human history when we study and then refer to this example.  We must contend that this form of confusion and then migration process is not the first time that God has overseen such an act.  Adam and Eve were forced to migrate out of the Garden of Eden after they had chosen sin to be in their lives.  It is clear in this passage of Scripture that the people who were living as one group did the exact same thing to God thus setting into motion the next step by God.  This time, however, God had more people to deal with so He followed His earlier pattern and scattered them from the area but in many directions, but this time He added a twist as well, He confounded the languages which forced people to learn things on their own and find new ways to communicate with those who may speak similar tongues.

It is this detail that we need to understand not only about God’s plan for our lives but how important it is to keep God in our lives.  See, a part of obedience to God is recognizing that He represents our existence in all areas of our life and that we as a created being cannot live without His presence in our lives.  For when God spread out the people across the earth in this passage, He also saved not only our existence but placed His plan into motion so that He would not have to be put in the position of destroying mankind again according to His own Word.  The world is alive and in constant motion both above ground and below and we cannot ignore that signs from both sides of the earth’s crust say this, so if a huge earthquake struck that area and all civilization was present in that one area, then God would have broken His own Law thus nullifying His existence and thus shamefully having to readmit Lucifer to his rightful place back in heaven.

We may not always see what God is doing in our lives and this is true especially when our lives are uprooted and we have to change locations.  Giving up stability is hard for humanity to embrace and then accept but we must continue to trust God no matter what changes come our way.  This passage is a popular sermon maker and one that should be understood completely for it states very vividly that if we force God out of our lives completely that He will cause our settings to change with or without warning.  This passage does not say that God will take away our ability to complete things or get the job done but it does say that He will make things a tad difficult in order to grab our attention before it becomes too late.

God has demonstrated this pattern of His throughout His Word and it has not been limited just to the Gentile nations either.  Many times God warned Israel about their attitude and their appearance before God yet almost every time they rejected these warnings and God eventually had to act.  It is hard for us to understand why God allows such devastation to come to those whom He calls “child” but in such manner, we quickly forget that God is inside our lives and He cannot live or have anything to do with voluntary sin that we accept.  When the Spirit moves and sees nothing but general wickedness this does not sit well with God and He must change the setting.  NOT to glorify His presence or His name but He understands how important it is that we choose life instead of the world for eternal separation from Him is humanly unimaginable and therefore, a thought and condition that we should 100% strive to avoid.  When humanity demonstrates that they have no desire at all to place and then keep God first in their lives, He must act according to His Word to ensure that His Kingdom of life is extended.  God will do everything in His power to allow His prized creations understand that He is the only Way to eternal life.

This passage of Scripture is not one of limitations but of restoration and through this process that God completed gave humanity more opportunities to praise God and to see the errors of our ways.  God understands our need for progression and order for it was Him who gave that initiative to us in the first place, but even greater is the need to have God in our lives as the driver of such projects for only He can show us the way well enough so that our projects can be completed in His perfect manner which is so much better than what the world offers.  It has been stated many times that God works in mysterious ways and this passage of Scripture proves this truth, God does everything for His children because He loves us and wants us to first recognize Him as the only way to salvation, redemption, and restoration and when we accept this truth He guarantees a complete and abundant life through Him totally separate from this world.

This nation and the societies that follow us are living in the same kind of togetherness without God as the people in Genesis Chapter 11 did so long ago.  Time and time again humanity has proven that if it lives as if there is no God and no higher power to govern their lives that nothing but devastation and destruction results.  We are now the epitome of this type of selfishness and haughtiness that God has no choice but to take notice and while these settings are being redistributed throughout our land again we should not be surprised when God performs another supernatural event to grab our attention.  People, stop and take a hard look at the conditions that we are building, for it is the exact same type of belief system that the people in Genesis 11 were establishing.  I have always found it funny that humanity continues to follow our same patterns that we have done in our history yet do not believe God will do the same.

Togetherness without God can lead to only one result and that is utter devastation that mankind has no words to describe, yet togetherness with God provides the exact opposite conditions focused with purity, peace, and eternal life as the original gifts being manifested around us.  Church, our light has gone out and we have rejected God’s Light source and right at this moment, God is still calling us to repentance.  If we do not heed this warning from God, He will eventually have no choice but to "scatter" us from our establishment in similar fashion as He did in Genesis Chapter 11.  We do not want this type of setting to take place again for if / when it does, these acts shall change the entire setting of the world and it's civilization status just as it was done in this passage of Scripture.  It is evident that the people who were talked about in this passage did not believe God would strike as powerful as He did in previous times again, but He did and shall do again if provoked to do such an act.

DLB