God of all nations,
You are not just the God of individuals
You are the Lord of peoples, of tribes, of tongues.
You trace the branches of every family tree,
the spread of every lineage.
None are forgotten.
No nation is beyond Your gaze.
In Genesis 10,
I see more than names and places
I see Your sovereign hand,
guiding generations like rivers across the earth.
I see the birth of culture,
the movement of language,
the seeds of cities and customs and clans.
You are a God of history,
and history is not random.
You are weaving purpose through every name.
Even those I cannot pronounce
they mattered to You.
So do I.
Lord, I confess
I often skim over these chapters.
I look at genealogies and feel disconnected.
But You don’t.
You see stories behind every name,
souls behind every number.
Help me to see as You see.
Help me remember that my story is part of a larger one.
That I do not stand alone in faith,
but on the shoulders of generations before me.
And my choices shape the ones who come after.
You placed people in lands and borders,
in tribes and tongues,
but You were never far from any of them.
From Japheth to Ham to Shem
You were at work.
And through one line,
You would bring the Redeemer of all.
Even in dispersion,
even in division,
You had a plan to reunite all nations
under one Name.
So, Lord,
teach me to honor my heritage,
but worship beyond its limits.
To value my culture,
but not idolize it.
To see every tribe and language
as part of Your redemptive story.
Let me never reduce someone
to where they’re from or what they look like.
Let me see them as You do
an image-bearer,
a descendant of Your great design.
And remind me
One day every nation,
every family mentioned here
will bow before the Lamb.
The long story of Genesis 10
will come to rest in Revelation 7.
Until then,
use me to build bridges,
to speak peace,
to welcome all into Your grace.
In the name of Jesus,
descended from Shem,
Savior of all peoples,
King of every nation
Amen.