From the beginning, God’s instruction to humanity was to spread out across the earth to subdue it and rule over it as His image-bearing representatives (Genesis 1:28; 9:1, 7). One of the ways God was to be glorified was through people (the pinnacle of His creation) fulfilling the cultural mandate He gave them in every corner of the globe.

But the sin born in Eden continued to dig deeper into the hearts of people, and their rebellion grew. God’s command to spread out was not misunderstood or even ignored – it was rejected outright on the plains of Shinar. But God’s plan cannot be defeated. The people would not scatter across the earth, so He would do it for them. Instead of spreading out as one people of God, they did so as a broken, fragmented and divided people – a people in need of someone to rescue them from this condition and restore them as one family of God. That someone would be Jesus.

• How has God worked in your life and circumstances despite your disobedience?
• When have you seen people and relationships restored through Jesus?