E100-05

 

Tower of Babel

Genesis 11:1-9

Kevin's Commentary

You are encouraged to go through steps or process scripture in these steps:

• Pray = in anticipation of what God wants you to discover. Lord God, language and speech are good gifts from You and I offer You my thanks for them today.
• Read = with purpose look for what God is trying to communicate. You may want to read out of several translations and highlight key words.
• Reflect = on the context and put yourself in the shoes of people at that time. The motivation for building the Tower of Babel was pride. How can pride be both a good and a bad thing? What examples of both kinds of pride have you seen?
•     God is ... What do we learn about God?
•     We are ... What do we learn about people?
• Apply = information without application is fruitless. Decide on some practical steps you can take for fulfill what God wants you to do. Make a list of some things of which you are most proud. Separate any that cause hurt or problems. Throw that list away as a symbol of your decision to reject wrongful pride.
• Pray = yielding to God to empower you to do what the word convicted you to do. God, it’s enough that I’m proud to be Your child. Keep me from any pride that will hurt others or displease You.

For deeper Bible study and more resources go to my Commentary Blog notes.

For other parts of the Essential 100 Scripture Series, click on the link with the topic #E100.

#Communication

People built a tower and a city called Babel as a monument to their own greatness. God thwarted this arrogant behavior by causing all the people to speak in different languages. This caused the people to scatter all over the earth.

God will not permit us to replace him as supreme in the universe. We belong to him and are responsible for our actions.

The scene is almost spooky: a tall, unfinished tower looming solitarily on a dusty plain. Its base is wide and strong but covered with weeds. Large stones originally intended for use in the tower lie forsaken on the ground. Buckets, hammers, and pulleys—all lie abandoned. The silhouette cast by the structure is lean and lonely.

Not too long ago, this tower was buzzing with activity. A bystander would have been impressed with the smooth-running construction of the world’s first sky scraper. One group of workers stirred freshly made mortar. Another team pulled bricks out of the oven. A third group carried the bricks to the construction site while a fourth shouldered the load up a winding path to the top of the tower where it was firmly set in place.

Their dream was a tower. A tower that would be taller than anyone had ever dreamed. A tower that would punch through the clouds and scratch the heavens. And what was the purpose of the tower? To glorify God? No. To try to find God? No. To call people to look upward to God? Try again. To provide a heavenly haven of prayer? Still wrong.

The purpose of the work caused its eventual abortion. The method was right. The plan was effective. But the motive was wrong. Dead wrong. Read these minutes from the Tower Planning Committee Meeting and see what I mean:

“Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that [watch out!] we may make a name for ourselves” (v. 4).

Why was the tower being built? Selfishness. Pure, 100 percent selfishness. The bricks were made of inflated egos and the mortar was made of pride. Men were giving sweat and blood for a pillar. Why? So that somebody’s name could be remembered.

We have a name for that: blind ambition.

We make heroes out of people who are ambitious.

And rightly so. This world would be in sad shape without people who dream of touching the heavens. Ambition is that grit in the soul which creates disenchantment with the ordinary and puts the dare into dreams.

But left unchecked it becomes an insatiable addition to power and prestige; a roaring hunger for achievement that devours people as a lion devours an animal, leaving behind only the skeletal remains of relationships.

Blind ambition. Distorted values.

God won’t tolerate it. He didn’t then, and he won’t now. He took the Climb to Heaven Campaign into his hands. With one sweep he painted the tower gray with confusion and sent workers babbling in all directions. He took man’s greatest achievement and blew it into the winds like a child blows a dandelion.

Are you building any towers? Examine your motives. And remember the statement imprinted on the base of the windswept tower of Babel: blind ambition is a giant step away from God and one step closer to catastrophe.

What towers have you been building? Wealth? Success? Recognition? Focus on what God wants you to build. Simplify your life. Surrender your desires to him! Let him guide your efforts.