INTRODUCTION

There is a common misconception that the Lord desires for all people to come together in harmony. This is commonly promoted on various levels. Though the Lord does promote unity within smaller units, He has never commanded unity in spite of diversity. All the way back in Genesis 9, the Lord established a desire for His people to separate. The only way for Noah to "replenish the earth" was for him and his seed to multiply and split up. In Genesis 11, the people showed their desire to stay together and they united in building a tower (Genesis 11:4And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
See All...). In order to divide the people, the Lord confounded their language (Genesis 11:5-8 [5] And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. [6] And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. [7] Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. [8] So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
See All...).

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHTS

• (For smaller children) When the Lord asks us to separate from someone, it is always for a very good reason. Read Genesis 12:1-3 [1] Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: [2] And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: [3] And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
  See All.... He asked Abram to leave his kinfolk and his country for a new land to make a great nation there. We are blessed today because our Saviour came from heaven and was born into this great nation of Israel.
• In what places did the Lord tell his people to be witnesses in Acts 1:8But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.
  See All...? What happened when the people did not split up as the Lord had commanded (see Acts 8:1And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.
  See All...)?
• What reasons could the Lord have for wanting people to separate? What has to happen in order for all peoples to come together? What might have to be forsaken for the sake of unity?

PRAYER NEEDS

• Ask God to help you have a better understanding of separation.
• Ask God for wisdom in the matter of separation.

HYMN

Have Thine Own Way, Lord!

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