Genesis 11:4: "And they said, 'Come, let us build ourselves a
city and a tower with its top in the sky. Let us make a name
for ourselves; otherwise, we will be scattered over the face of
the whole earth.'"
There have been many occasions when I hear my kids screaming for me from the playroom downstairs. "Come look! Come look!" they say with such excitement that I can't help but think, This is going to be good! My expectations are usually met with a sloppy, crooked, Leaning-Tower-of-Pisa, Lego house. I can't say what I am really thinking, so with as much enthusiasm as I can muster, I exclaim, "Isn't that... something!"What did I expect? These are kids, not architects, engineers, or builders.
In Genesis 11, we read about a time when God's creation tried something similar. Man decided to build a tower to try to get to heaven and to make a name for themselves. Unfortunately for man, there were a couple of problems with this plan.
First, God clearly let humanity know that their job was to make His name known. Here we see them trying to make a name for themselves. The problem with that endeavor is it goes completely against God's desire and intentions for man.
Second, it consisted of mere humans trying to do a divine work (build a tower to heaven). They were trying to be god of their own lives. Though we may try to make a name for ourselves or try to be god over own our lives, in the end we are unable to do anything great on our own.
Pause and Reflect:
There have been many occasions when I hear my kids screaming for me from the playroom downstairs. "Come look! Come look!" they say with such excitement that I can't help but think, This is going to be good! My expectations are usually met with a sloppy, crooked, Leaning-Tower-of-Pisa, Lego house. I can't say what I am really thinking, so with as much enthusiasm as I can muster, I exclaim, "Isn't that... something!"What did I expect? These are kids, not architects, engineers, or builders.
In Genesis 11, we read about a time when God's creation tried something similar. Man decided to build a tower to try to get to heaven and to make a name for themselves. Unfortunately for man, there were a couple of problems with this plan.
First, God clearly let humanity know that their job was to make His name known. Here we see them trying to make a name for themselves. The problem with that endeavor is it goes completely against God's desire and intentions for man.
Second, it consisted of mere humans trying to do a divine work (build a tower to heaven). They were trying to be god of their own lives. Though we may try to make a name for ourselves or try to be god over own our lives, in the end we are unable to do anything great on our own.
Pause and Reflect:
- Why did God disapprove of man building the tower?
- What does this teach us about God?
- What does this teach us about man?
