The Tower of Babel (Gn11)

This is a story about putting ourselves before God. When we do that, we are prideful. Pride is the root of a lot of bad things. We will se a couple of them in this story.

After Noah and his family finally came out of the ark. (Remember the flood?) Noah built an alter to God. Noah thanked God and worshipped Him. Then God told Noah to "be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth." So what does that mean? God wanted Noah to have a great big family, so that his children would have great big families. Then God wanted them to move into all different parts of the world. The world is a big place and God wanted everyone to spread out and not stay in one place. We have to remember what God told Noah, because it is important in the tower of Babel story.

A few hundred years after the flood, there were a lot of people on the earth again. Noah had obeyed God and had a lot of children and they had a lot too. Many moved east to the other side of the river (not too far away) and found some nice flat land. Flat land was great for building. The people said "Come let us build a city with a giant tower that reaches all the way up to heaven. We will make a name for ourselves here and we won't end up being scattered around the world." (Gn11:4) God was looking down and knew what the people were planning. He knew that they were not building a tower for Him, but for themselves. God also knew that if they built the tower, the people would not fill the earth (spread out through the whole earth) like he told Noah, because they would stay near the tower.

God had a plan. His plan is funny if you think about it. God confused their language so that they couldn't understand each other!(vs.7) Imagine trying to build something and you can't understand your boss or the other workers. If one of the other workers asks you to pass a medium sized brick, but to you it sounds like blah blah blah blah blah, you wouldn't know what to do. Construction on the Tower of Babel had to stop because no one could understand each other. Babel means confused. They were confused all right! Did you ever hear anyone babbling about something. Not making any sense. I have.

So God scattered the people throughout the earth.(vs8) They didn't obey God, so He had to do something to make His plan work. I think God was pretty easy on these guys. He didn't hurt them. They deserved a lot worse. When God doesn't give us what we deserve, it's called mercy. God had mercy on the people building the tower. Has God ever had mercy on you?

Sometimes we put things before God. Things like our toys or games, our friends, or our allowance. Imagine if all of a sudden you spoke a different language than everyone else. You could't play games with your friends, or you could't understand your teachers or your parents. God may not confuse us like he did to the people in this story, but He does try to get our attention in different ways if we are too prideful or disobedient. Have you ever lost a favorite toy. Maybe it was more important than God. God says that if we put him first, He'll make sure about everything else that we need. (Mt6:31)

God gave us talents, when we draw a beautiful picture, write a wonderful story of play terrific music, we have to be careful not to be prideful about what we have done, but instead about what God has done through us. That is called glorifying God. He likes that. (Ps86:12)

Noah is saved.... and God's promise Gn 8&9

In the last few weeks, we got to know a little about Noah. Noah and his family were the only people on earth that knew God and loved God. When God told Noah to build a huge boat and gather all the animals inside, he obeyed. When the flood lasted a long time and then Noah and his family had to wait for God to let them out of the boat, we saw that Noah was patient.Here is a coloring page for you. Thanks to RaisingOurKids.com

We can be like Noah if we love God, obey God and wait for God. There is one more important thing that we can learn from Noah.... and that is to believe God. The Bible says that Noah was

righteous because he believed God. What does that mean? It means that Noah was going to heaven when he died. We will see Noah in heaven some day. Won't that be so cool! We could ask him about the flood and all the animals. What would you ask Noah? God didn't say that Noah was going to heaven because he built the ark. God didn't say that Noah was going to heaven because he was patient. God said that Noah was going to heaven because he believed Him.

A few weeks ago, we talked about believing God. We believe that Jesus is His son. That He died for our sins and that we would follow Him. We believed God and that's why we are going to heaven some day. If God said all we have to do is run around the block to get to heaven... some people can't walk. If God said it would only cost a penny to get to heaven... some people don't even have a penny. God wants everyone to know him and be in heaven with Him. Believing is something that everyone can do and Jesus made it possible.

After Noah and his family finally got off the ark, Noah wanted to thank God for saving him and his family, so Noah built an alter to God and prayed to Him. We should thank God for sending Jesus to save us. God was pleased with Noah. He blessed Noah and his family and He promised Noah that he would never again flood the earth. Do you remember what God put in the sky as a sign to Noah about this promise? Right.... a rainbow! Have you ever seen a rainbow. Aren't they wonderful?!

The Flood

Last time we saw how Noah obeyed God by building an Ark. (a really big boat) Did you know that God gave Noah exact instructions about building the ark? He told him what kind of wood to use, how big to make it, where to put the windows and how to make it waterproof. Did your dad ever have to follow the instructions to put something together? Like a bicycle or a swing set? If he followed the instructions, it made putting it together a lot easier. God gives us instructions for our life. It's called the BIBLE! Because He wants our lives to be blessed.

This week we find that Noah has finished building the ark. (It only took him 100 years!) Do you think Noah ever thought it would never be finished? The Bible says that after he finished building the ark, Noah took his whole family into the ark and then God sent the animals in two by two. (Gn 7:6-9)

God shut Noah and his family in the boat with the animals. They were waiting for the rain to start. First day, no rain. Second day, no rain. Third day no rain! Do you think Noah was wondering if he heard God right? Finally on the seventh day it began to rain. (Gn 7:10)

It rained for forty days! When the rain finally stopped, the water was 20 feet above the highest mountain! Have you ever seen a mountain? Imagine a flood higher than that! The water didn't go down right away either. It took 5 months for the water to go down enough to see the tops of the mountains. Do you think that God could have flooded the earth in one day and dried it up the next? He sure could have. Remember we learned that God created the water in one day, then the land the next. Nothing is impossible with God.. (Lk 1:37)

Finally the ark came to rest at the top of a mountain called Mount Arafat. Noah, his family and all the animals stayed in the boat for three more months as the water kept going down. (so far they have been in the boat for over nine months, thats more than one full school year.)

After another forty days, Noah let a dove go. The dove flew away and then came back. Noah was hoping it would bring some kind of proof that the land was drying up, but the dove had nothing in its beak. The next week Noah sent it out again. This time the dove brought back an olive branch. I bet Noah and his family were celebrating! They knew that they would soon be stepping on solid ground. Noah knew that he had to wait for God to say that it was OK. So they waited and waited and waited. Finally 2 months later, God said it was OK for them to come out. God opened the hatch and Noah and his family and all the animals came out. I bet they were so happy to see the ground!

Noah and His family were in that boat for more than a year. They showed patience over and over again. They waited seven days for the rain to begin. They waited for the rain to stop. They waited for the ground to dry and then they waited for God's OK to come out.

The Bible tells us that we should wait for God. (Is 30:18) Why? Because God sees all things. He knows what will happen in the future. So by waiting for Him, we are showing that we trust Him. Being patient is not easy. We always want everything right away.

I remember one time, my mom had baked a cake. She took it out of the oven and put it on top of the stove to cool. I started to take a piece and my mom said to wait. When she left the room, I hurried up and took a piece and shoved it quickly into my mouth before she came back. It was so hot! I burned my mouth. I was screaming and crying. My mom came in. " Couldn't you even wait for it to cool down?" She was just trying to protect me. She knows what is best for me. I couldn't eat anything for two days, my mouth was so sore. By that time, the cake was all gone.

God tells us in the Bible to be patient. (Jas 5:7) He knows what is best for us.