Babel

Babel
Genesis 11:1-9

"Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth."

Wow, that is a short verse but it has a lot to say about us. Let US make a name for OURselves. Hmm, apparently we were now in charge. We decided to do whatever we wanted-that sounds a mite familiar. No more is it acceptable to be made in God’s image; today we wish to be like God, we want to be in charge.  We want to be famous – for our own sake.

And the Lord came down to see,…And said, "Behold, …this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.”

Too bad we didn’t think to do things according to God’s purposes. He just spent all this time with us; after all it says the Lord came down to see. And yet, we were more interested in what we could do for ourselves. Were we showing off, or trying to show up? Do we do this still?

Do we wish to be in charge of everything? Do we wish to make a name for OURselves? Do we forget God’s purposes?

God told Noah to go over the whole earth, and here we are, the next day practically deciding for ourselves that we don’t want to go anywhere anymore. I can relate to that; I don’t like to get up in the morning, I’d rather be sleeping. I’d rather do whatever I want. Gee that sounds a lot like this.

It is frustrating not to be understood, how nice it could be to be with a people who know you and who share a common language, and yet how wonderful it is to hear all the different dialects and languages from all over the world; it is now a beautiful symphony of voices. I wouldn’t want all these variations never to have existed either.

What can I learn from this? It seems to me that there is a lesson to be learned in priorities. Whose business am I about? Who do I think is in control? Who do I want to be in control? Who will I allow to be in control?

See you tomorrow

-maggie