January 20, 2026

Business by the Book

Genesis 11:6 …and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

This is the Lord God speaking. He says that if certain conditions exist within a group of people, anything that group can imagine can be accomplished. Working within a group of people can be difficult to say the least. Every business owner, every parent, every pastor, and every coach on any team will probably agree that accomplishing great things with a group of people is their biggest challenge.

Within the pages of the Bible the Lord has given certain conditions that are needed for corporate success. Businesses spend millions of dollars in an attempt to obtain these conditions. Over the next few days we will look at these prerequisites for success as found in Genesis 11:1-9. It’s the story of the Tower of Babel, a great undertaking in which the group failed miserably. One may ask, what can be learned from a group that failed? A lot, just because they failed does not mean that there are no lessons to be learned. Oftentimes more is learned from failure than from success.

Nonetheless, the Lord said that within this group of people there were some characteristics that if duplicated will bring success to any group, big or small. There was one feature though that they did not have which led to their failure to accomplish their desire. If in our groups we could take the attributes that they did have and add the one they did not have, success is certain to follow. Remember, it was God who said …and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. This is God’s word on the matter. Yes, he foiled their plan, but absent His involvement they would have been successful.

Before going on please remember these two bits of information. First, primarily this is a spiritual lesson about a great theological truth. At all costs the Lord had to protect that truth. For the purpose of these devotions however we will deal with the practical aspects of the conditions necessary in order to accomplish great things with any group. Two, just because this illustration of a group of people working together to accomplish something great is found in the Old Testament does not mean the principles will not work today. For each of the conditions this group displayed that would bring about their success is also found in New Testament teachings. But nowhere are they found in such a clear cut presentation as in this story.

Dr. William Howe