Build Or Walk

“It is much easier to do something than to trust in God… that is why we see so few fellow workers with God, yet so many people working for God.”— Oswald Chambers

In Genesis Chapters 11 and 12, we are introduced to two types of humanity. First we are told of men who built towers and cities with bricks made by their own hands. They build institutions and systems for posterity and legacy, they build to “..make a name for ourselves..” Next we are told of a man who built no city, no tower. No institution, no system. He was a man who simply walked with God, a man who “believed the LORD, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

God never asked Abraham to build Him anything. Abraham built neither a religious movement nor a temple. God told Abraham, “Walk before me..” and the only thing we ever see Abraham build is altars. Places to lay sacrifices to be consumed. There is no posterity or legacy to be had in an altar, only loss. You cannot make a name for yourself when what you “do” for the Lord is utterly consumed by Him. We can attach our name to a city, a tower, a temple, a religious movement, a ministry— to beautiful things we do in the name of the Lord and set upon a pedestal for all to admire. But we can attach no name to ashes on the altar.

God says, “Walk before me..” but so many of us would rather build instead. Chambers said, “We would much rather work for God than believe in Him.” We are told that Abraham “believed the Lord” and it was his trust in God that was counted as righteousness. It was trust that the Lord would build the house (Ps 127:1), that the Lord has prepared a city (Heb 11:16), that Lord would make His own posterity (John 6:44), and that the Lord would bring it all together in due time (Isaiah 60:22). 

The Lord gives us all the choice: to be a Babylonian and build for posterity, or to be a citizen of Zion and walk with the Lord. 

(Gen 11:5,8,9) Then the LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building… the LORD scattered them from there over the face of all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it is called Babel, for there the LORD confused the language of the whole world, and from that place the LORD scattered them over the face of all the earth.

(Rev 17:18;18:2-10) “And the woman whom you saw is the great city, having kingship over the kings of the earth.".. With a mighty voice he shouted: “’Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’ She has become a dwelling for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit… All the nations have drunk the wine of the passion of her immorality…” Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins or contract any of her plagues… Woe! Woe to you, great city, you mighty city of Babylon! In one hour your doom has come!”

(Phil 3:18-20) For as I have often told you before, and now say again even with tears: Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ…

(Heb 11:9-16) By faith [Abraham] dwelt in the promised land as a stranger in a foreign country… For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God… All these people died in faith, without having received the things they were promised. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own… they were longing for a better country, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

(Gen 5:22;6:9;17:1) Then Enoch walked with God… Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God… When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.”

(Micah 6:8) He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

(1 John 2:4-6) If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him: Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walked.