January 3, 2024

Genesis 11.1, 6 (NIV)

Now the world had one language and a common speech. . . . The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.”

When we leave God out of our lives we become our own gods.*

The people of Babel said, “Let’s build a tower that reaches to the heavens.” It is not clear whether they thought they could by-pass God and actually climb to heaven, but it is obvious that “it was a monument to themselves rather than to God.”*

If the citizens of Babel thought that their technology could eliminate the need for God, what would they think if they got a peek at today’s advances? What does God see when he looks at us? If it was true of Babel, it must be true of the modern world that “a united, technologically sophisticated human race . . . [is] nearly unlimited in their capacity for evil."*  The people of Babel were united in their purpose and their industry – and in their disobedience. Look at how our world is united now by the internet and cell phones and airplanes. Are we building monuments to ourselves? “People working together” may have the ring of harmony but we can use our unity for evil as well as for good.

God punished Babel by destroying their ability to communicate with each other. How will he punish us for our arrogance? What will he do to us for thinking that we have accomplished so much and do not need him?

Technology continues to progress at breakneck speed, but, far from reaching the heavens, it sometimes diminishes our lives.*

*Quote sources available upon request.