June 21, 2026:

GOD’S WORD FOR TODAY:

“So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11.8-9)

TODAY’S REFLECTION ON GOD’S WORD:

Today is Father’s Day in this country. A tradition carried into many other countries apart from the United States in which it originated by those who have experienced it here. I am, of course, as a pastor, teacher and father focused first on the true Father’s Day which happens each Sunday regardless of where we live. It is important to me to keep this version of Father’s Day first and foremost in mind because in it all people have been made “children” of God. Sadly, many refuse to recognize that fact and deny it vehemently or passively (more likely passive aggressive) because God has not provided for them and given to them what they “wanted.” I think it is sad that when it comes to holidays and special days (such as birthdays and Mother’s Day or Father’s Day or many other such “days”), the focus is on gifts and not the people remembered by them. We are a culture and climate of people addicted to gifts and gifting. I am not saying that gifts and gift giving are wrong. I do reflect on the intention and purpose of them. Which is the true priority: the gifter (giving of the gift so it makes the giver feel purposeful or hopefully honored and thus a recipient of a gift in the future) or the gifted (the one who receives the gift). Yes, the one who is gifted should appreciate a gift regardless of what it is. The gifter might do well to consider the difference between giving a gift that is meaningful and purposeful to the recipient than one which represents more the one who is giving it. I cannot help but go back to David’s Shepherd Psalm and hear “The Lord is my Shepherd, no want shall I know.” David recognized the gifting of God to meet all his needs so efficiently and effectively that he had no wants or longings. God, as the Heavenly Father, knew exactly what to give that would satisfy David. Many times God provided David before David even knew there was a need or something to be wanted. Well, there was that time of Bathsheba where David decided to meet the “want” and justify it as a need. If David needed Bathsheba, perhaps God would have made such a provision. Since David gifted himself, I believe we can safely assume it was far less a “need,” except for lust, and far more a “want,” which was lust. It is here that we must hear Jesus teaching His followers and those who happened to be listening on that even just thinking about it was as wrong if not more so than actually committing the sin itself. Jesus was speaking about lust and covetousness, but it certainly applies to all other areas of life! When it comes to the “father” and gifting, I go back to the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth. It is at this point that I embrace Genesis 2, the “second” creation story. In it, God created a human being and then gifted him with the rest of creation. God gave Adam what was needed before Adam even considered what he wanted. Adam didn’t even know that he would have wants. All Adam would understand was the things he needed and God had provided. Even in the naming of the animals and noticing that each had a mate only invoked a since of need. God saw it, too, and showed Adam that all that he needed God would provide. It was Satan who introduced Adam to a want. He did so by tempting Eve to be less than what Adam needed. Adam wanted more as Eve was invited to need something else that Adam could not provide. Who could provide it? God already had in the two trees in the center of the Garden. One was allowed because God knew that they would need it: the Tree of Life, to dwell with God spiritually, physically and cognitively with the Father forever as His blessed children. The other was created but protected because the want of it should have been the want only of God and that want should have been a need to trust in Him and do only as He said. When we give gifts, do we do it because of a need to honor and show we are aware of the needs of the other? Or, do we do it because we can give something and by it feign an obligation. Do such gifts leave us empty for both the giver and the gifted? In this emptiness and nothingness, a void is highlighted that there is more to life than what we have. I wonder if this is why we love those notes from our children and grandchildren which reflect the nature and character they experience as real for themselves. It is their need to honor us as parents and grandparents because they want to and they believe we need to hear it. And we do! That is the singular language that should unite us all. It is the language of love.

This is the third point I said I would reflect upon today in light of the story of the “Tower of Babel,” or interpreted “The Tower of Confusion.” The people loved themselves more than they loved God. They wanted something more for themselves and that seemed to be the attention of the rest of the world; affirmation and devotion and perhaps even fear. Such love is a “want” and far from a need. True love needs to demonstrate to the other the value in their lives. True love does not expect anything in return. True love believes that the one that is loved is motivated by the same truth. Those in Babel had no such intention. In truth, they desired to usurp the place of God and make it commonplace for them which would have reduced God in their eyes and in their lives. They would have made of faith a “nothing,” which results in chaos. That is exactly what Satan desires to do even now. Satan wants us to need ourselves far more than we need God for our daily and eternal existence. Satan knows that we will live forever. What Satan needs is for us to live with him forever and not God. Satan already tried to empty out Heaven and was 1/3 successful. Sadly, according to The Book of Revelation, he will be 4/5 successful with the earthly population. We certainly do not want to be a part of that number. But we can be if we do not speak the truth in love. If we continue to “babble on,” as citizens of “Babel,” or Babylon, then we are identifying with the enemy against God. We dare not preach an empty gospel with impotent grace! We dare not presume we are entitled to redefine the model of life which God not only created by blessed with a stamp of eternal approval as He said, “It is good.” We live in a world whose culture and climate says that the world isn’t good enough and that we can do better and know better than God what is good for ourselves and everyone else. What we give, by doing that, is actually giving empty gifts that produce nothing but confusion, disappointment and frustration. Haven’t we seen enough of that? Is that the way of the Father? Sadly, it is the way of too many fathers since Adam; and more and more each generation. It has to stop. It can stop when we celebrate days like today remembering the very first Father and give Him the gift of true love by loving one another.

TODAY’S PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING:

Father, in these days we are finding the need to believe even more than ever before. We all have known trouble, some in greater ways than others, but You are offering us the assurance that we will not be consumed by it forever. Regardless of the “time” we are in and the “time” we have been given, we ask for Your Holy Spirit which Jesus asked You to share with us, to lead and guide and direct us in the paths we should go. Teach us what we still need to learn. Empower us to put that learning into action. Bless our actions not as a works righteousness but as righteous works of faith, hope and love in Jesus’ name. AMEN.