Devotional - Our Purpose

Our Purpose

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 and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”

Genesis 11:4 

Within the 1989 movie, Field of Dreams, farmer Ray Kinsella is walking in his cornfield when hears a voice that whispers, “If you build it, he will come.” He then plowed under his corn to build a baseball diamond.

For the people on the plain in Shinar the thought was, “If you build it, they will notice.” Craving human praise and fame, they made bricks and began building. Their plan was to build a tower for the purpose of making a name for themselves (Genesis 11:4).

Their self-serving desire was to call attention to themselves. They wanted honor, renown, and fame.

Ironically, God had to come down to see their grand and glorious tower. It’s almost funny, if it weren’t so sad. It’s a moment of holy scorn: The LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building (Genesis 11:5). And God was not pleased. He confused their language and scattered them over the face of the earth.

Not only were their motives for building arrogant, their choice to settle together permanently was blatant disobedience. After the flood when God made a covenant with Noah and his sons he said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth” (Genesis 9:1). They defied God’s command. Instead of filling the earth, they congregated in a single location.

Prideful people defy God’s commands and put their wants before His will. They make themselves the greatest by purposing to make a name for themselves instead of exalting God’s great and glorious name.

What are you building today? Are you establishing a reputation, a business, a family, or a clientele? That’s good and wonderful if our purpose in building is to praise God’s name and not our own. May Psalm 115:1 be our prayer: Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory (Psalm 115:1a).

He>i: What’s on your to-do list today? Look at each line item and think through its purpose. Is it to make much of God’s name or are we hoping to make a name for ourselves?

Many of us are drunk right now, intoxicated with a desire to be respected, honored, and widely known. And yet this intoxication derails our ability to give God the respect, honor, and renown that He so rightly deserves.

Bruce Riley Ashford 

grace and peace,

Lenae