With the Babel account, I immediately think of languages but there is more going on here. People, united in language, had great ability to accomplish great things. They planned to build a great city with a great tower so they could make a name for themselves. The goal was to be famous, to have renown, to glory in themselves rather than God.
This story started my wheels spinning. First, people were ingenious and resourceful and together they could do anything, nothing would be impossible for them (6).
On the one hand this saddens me, oh the good that could be accomplished if we humans could band together… eliminate hunger, eradicate disease and so on.
Yet, we so often turn our ingenuity and resourcefulness to self-glorification. We want to be god, to rule our lives, to captain our destinies.. We also want to be numero uno and sit on the top of the heap. But to be on the top means others have to be below us. God had ordained that people be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth (Gen 1:28) but they didn’t wanted to be scattered over the earth. Their search for a name was also a stand against God and God’s will.
My next stop was thinking about the redeemed, the church. We have been made new. God has given us a new heart. That means we can win the battle against sin and selfishness. If that is the case then, oh the good we can do if we were to band together for the common good.
Think about it…
Lord, help me, help us, Your people, to reach deep into to our ingenuity and resourcefulness to do great things that honor You and serve others. Lord, give me strength to reject the voice of sin that says ‘make a name for yourself’ and help me, with all my breadth, to seek to glorify Your name and Your name, alone, with my life. Through Jesus, my Lord, I pray. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment