Gen 11:7 caught my attention… that’s the verse where God decides to confuse the languages of the people so that they can’t communicate effectively. This makes me wonder about a few things. Is God really saying that people who are unified can upset His purposes? (God says that nothing would be impossible for them…) That doesn’t seem right. The choice of words also grabbed my attention — God “confused” their languages. Yet 1 Cor 14:33 says that God is not the author of confusion. If the Bible can’t contradict itself, how are these verses reconciled?
In the story of Abram/Abraham and Sarai/Sarah, Abraham’s habit of lying about his relationship with his wife struck me. The first time he lies, it is to Pharoah in Egypt. Abram has been hearing from God and obeying God… but his fear still gets the better of him when he gets to Egypt. The lie is found out, and things turn out OK in the end… but it seems like Abram and Sarai ultimately benefit from the lie, rather than being punished for it. But you’d think that they would have learned that God was big enough to take care of them and protect them without having to lie to protect themselves.
But apparently not. Because a few chapters later, they’re at it again. And once again, God comes through and protects them despite their lie… so that there are no recorded consequences for their lie. In fact, right after this second episode, Sarah becomes pregnant and has Isaac. Somehow… this just doesn’t seem fair to me. I don’t want to argue with God’s grace, but shouldn’t they have at least gotten a “time out” or something? If an entire family line could be cursed because Ham saw Noah naked… where’s the curse, where’s the punishment for giving your wife to be another man’s wife? It seems unbalanced. Unjust. And yet… also quite encouraging.
I can’t help but find it encouraging that a couple of flawed people could make a serious mistake not once, but TWICE… and God would still follow through with His plans to use them.