Tag: humility

The Lord Came Down

Posted on by jovial_cynic

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; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building.

There’s an amusing quip in Genesis 11 that may have been intentional.

The people of Babel began to build a tower as high as they possibly could, so high it could “reach to the heavens.”

But as high as human ambition can reach, God still has to look DOWN at it.

Brought Low

Posted on by jovial_cynic

And the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley), after his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him.
Genesis 14:17 (NKJV)

It’s not obvious in English, but in all the places in scripture that mention the proud being brought low, it might be referring to this passage in Genesis 14.

The writer(s) want be you to see it, so they included this parenthetical, effectively saying it twice. The “Valley of Shaveh” is the low place. It’s level, and plain, and the clarification that it is the “King’s valley” (singular) may tell us that this is the place where all lesser kings are brought low before the King of Salem.

For the day of the Lord of hosts
Shall come upon everything proud and lofty,
Upon everything lifted up—
And it shall be brought low—
Isaiah 2:12 (NKJV)

The loftiness of man shall be bowed down,
And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low;
The Lord alone will be exalted in that day,
Isaiah 2:17 (NKJV)

Lesser kings are the proud places in your heart. It is the haughtiness of your soul that will be brought low before the King of righteousness, the King of Peace.