Tuesday 11 September 2012

The E100 Bible Reading Challenge: In the Beginning: The Tower of Babel (5)


Genesis 11:1-9

11Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2And as they migrated from the east, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3And they said to one another, ‘Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.’ And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’ 5The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built. 6And the Lord said, ‘Look, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.’8So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9Therefore it was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth; and from there the Lord scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.
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CAN'T WE TALK

KEY THOUGHT
The greatest of all vices is… pride.

OVERVIEW
Ever since the Fall, humans had increasingly chosen to go their own way instead of God’s. The Tower of Babel became a defiant expression of pride, “We’re in charge here.” But it wasn’t true and that’s why God confused and scattered the people of Babel (11.7-9). And pride is not just a problem for “them.” It infects us all. In the end, the tower didn’t come crashing down. It was left standing as a monument to the futility of trying to live without God.

CHALLENGE
Turn you back on pride and turn in humility to God.

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