The Tower of Babel is an account that many of us are familiar with. We've listened to the Sunday School story, and we usually sum it up as a bunch of crazy people, unwisely trying to reach Heaven by building a tower, and God gives each of them a new language and scatters them all over the Earth, and that's why we have many different languages today. Seems like an interesting, unrelatable history account right?
Wrong.
Have you ever realized that this account can be applied to your life?
Let's take a look at the people. Who were they? “These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.” (Genesis 10:1).
So the flood has already occurred, and the Earth is in its beginning stages of replenishment. After the flood, the earth was meant to be filled with people again. However, these people were all gathered in one place. God commanded them to fill the earth. But they didn't listen to God's command. They refused to move on. They felt comfort and security. They were afraid to disperse across the earth as God wanted.
In doing so, they disobeyed God's command.
God didn't want them to disperse across the earth as a form of punishment. It was meant for their good. In the dispersment, the earth would become replenished with people. And generations down the line, Abram would be born, and out of the line of Abraham would come Jesus, the Savior of the world. God knew what the future had in store, and it was meant for their good. But they let fear rule their lives.
So as a result, people turned away from God, and began to trust in themselves. Instead of listening to God, they started to rebel against Him. They wanted to show off their abilities, and they became prideful, trying to "play God." The building of the tower was an act of rebellion.
So what happens next? God lets them build. They build and build and build, and they are sinning more and more, very proud of themselves; refusing to realize that in turning toward their pride, they were turning away from everything God had in store for them.
So what does our loving Father do? The passage says that He comes down (v.5). He didn't have to. He could have let them build and build. They could never reach Heaven anyway. But our Creator cares. He gave each of them a different language, forcing them to scatter upon the Earth. He loved them. He forced His hand on them in love; for their own good.
How many times can we say that we are just like the people at the Tower of Babel? How many times are we afraid to listen to Christ's calling in our lives, because we feel comfortable and secure where we are at? I don't know about you, but there are many times in my life that I wish I could go back and tell myself to trust Jesus; that everything would be okay; that better things were in store. But we get caught up in the moments of life. Not remembering that Christ has a plan for our future.
We don't see that something seemingly bad or scary happening in our life is something that Christ is going to use for our good, so we turn away and try to do things on our own. We rebel against God, thinking that we can do things better.
But thank the Lord that He intervenes and turns us back in the right direction.
We cannot rely on self. We fail. Christ never fails. We can't see our future, Christ does. We can't see clearly in the midst of the storm. Christ is the Peace in the storm. Therefore, let go of the reins. Our lives are in danger in our hands. But they are always safe and secure in Christ's hands.
