LIFE SCRIPTS

Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.”
Genesis 11:1‭-‬4 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.11.1-4.NIV

This passage begins with a statement of context …the world had one language and a common speech in verse 1. It goes on further to paint for us the picture of the day in verse 2…people moved together towards the East, settled on the plains of Shinar and convinced each other to build a city with a tower ‘that reaches to the heavens’. The purpose of constructing the tower is aluded to in verse 4…so that ‘we may make a name for ourselves’ so as not to be ‘scattered over the face of the whole earth’. A very striking attribute about man in the story of the tower of Babel is our determination. Determination to make a name and a statement. However, to whom was this determination directed? If all men moved together in one accord, was there any other group of people who would be recepients of this statement of determination? Certainly not. Man’s determination was meant to be a challenge to God himself. The story of the tower of Babel is about men harnessing unity, synergy and strength to build ability that would render God irrelevant in their lives. It’s about not believing in God but believing in self. This same self belief is further propelled by our ingenuity and discovery. So in Genesis 11, as man discovered brick, tar and mortar, his drive to make his name greater grew. Today, as man makes greater discoveries and relies more on his ingenuity on a daily basis, he seems to be proving to himself that after all, there is little or no need for God. As life becomes more meaningful and better thanks to science, technology and engineering, man seems to see that he can find an answer to all his problems without God’s involvement. Although the tower of Babel seems to be a story of man’s unity and ingenuity, the same man forgets the source of his unity and ingenuity, God Himself. This is the same resounding message we must carry home today. Our world (especially the West and among the urban elite in developing nations) seems to be increasingly more comfortable and less in need of God. However, the towers we wish to erect to make ourselves famous are crumbling. Sooner or later, we’ll discover that ‘…the Stone we’ve rejected has now become the Capstone’. The God we’ve sidelined is the Author of all ingenuity, knowledge and wisdom.