April 23, 2010
Tower of Babel
Night before last the National Weather Service issued a severe thunderstorm alert for our region. We had a microburst, with wind gusts up to 57 miles an hour, rain in the evening and snow on the ground the following morning. After a few telephone busy signals, it became apparent that a cell tower had been knocked out. Some in our family are totally without phone service and Bill even resorted to looking up phone numbers in his cell and then dialing them the old fashioned way on the landline. Well, I guess God still has His way of stopping babble…
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Gail;
-----”Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.” (Gen 11:4) But God had, “...blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.’” (Gen 9:1) This He did after smelling the pleasing odor of the sacrifice Noah offered. Noah had looked to God and had recognized the importance of God’s name for his security. Mankind’s trust in God’s name was meant to afford them security in the face of the vulnerability of scattering across the earth and repopulating it. But they stopped their migration at the plain of Shinar to trust in themselves and make themselves a name, lest they face the fearful prospect of the individual responsibility required for spreading throughout the world. This is the elemental principle of mankind’s spiritual struggle, making a name for its collective self and trusting in fashionable philosophies versus trusting in the name of God and each following His directions in his own heart.
-----Now God came down to see the city and the tower all the people were building for themselves. “Building for themselves,” and “build ourselves a city,” are revealing pieces of the context in which God said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.” (Gen 11:6) Certainly if they had all been one people after God’s name, building a city from where many of them could migrate throughout the world, God would not have taken note of what they were able to do. For what they would then be doing would be following His direction in acknowledging His name. But it was notable to God that they were following their own ways, making their own name. The city and the tower were not the issue. Their proposal to abandon the security of God’s name for their own self made security was the issue.
-----I love the technology mankind has developed. It has emerged from the creative part of God’s image in which He created us. But it must be noticed that an ever increasing philosophy for placing faith in this technology is also emerging. It is not satisfied with dwelling peaceably amongst everyone else who places faith in God and thanks Him for what has been built. It spreads from a self defined mission to transform everyone’s faith in God into a platitudinous allegory of faith in collective mankind. It does not use technology as a tool for godly survival against the harsh elements of nature, but as a god that can transform nature itself into a warm and cozy utopia. Surely the last seven earthquakes (or eight, I have lost count) are harbingers of God’s imminent visitation upon our current Tower of Babel. Every year we see the frailty of our industriousness - its failure to be God - as everything from tornadoes to hurricanes to freezing snows and fiery volcanoes defeat whatever of our technology they might find in their paths. Yet mankind continues its denial to observe the evidential truth of these events and to call sincerely upon God in search of His truth. Therefore the day will come when the earth will shake down all of man’s technology so he will be left naked in his own name before God clothed in His own truth.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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