Monday after the Festival of the Transfiguration of our Lord
Posted on February 7, 2022 by under
Scripture: Genesis 11:1-9 (NKJV)
11:1 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. 3 Then they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. 4 And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”
5 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. 7 Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9 Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
Devotion
They lived on the plain—there were no mountains where they could worship on the high places. They had no stones to build with, but they had lots of clay. So, they made fire-tempered bricks to build a structure that reached above the clouds. They wanted to worship in the heavens by their own efforts, on their own terms. They did not want to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth as God had blessed them to do; they wanted to remain where they were, and make a name for themselves by working their way to heaven. God would not have it. He confused the people’s speech. Not being able to talk to each other, they scattered on the earth.
We wonder about them, but do we ‘temper our own clay’—harden our hearts—and try to work our way into heaven? Let it not be so! Let us not trust in our own works; let us be faithful to God’s Word and Sacraments. Let us be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with faith in His promises and blessings given through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Prayer: O God, Who in the glorious Transfiguration of Thy Only-begotten Son, hast confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of the fathers, and Who, in the voice that came from the bright cloud, didst in a wonderful manner foreshow the adoption of sons: Mercifully vouchsafe to make us coheirs with the King of His glory, and bring us to the enjoyment of the same; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
