At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. 2 As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there.
3 They began saying to each other, “Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.” (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.) 4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.”
5 But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. 6 “Look!” he said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! 7 Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.”
8 In that way, the Lord scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why the city was called Babel, because that is where the Lord confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world.
The tower of Babel was a great achievement, a wonder of the world in that day. But it was a monument to the people themselves rather than to God. It was a great achievement that was being built with the wrong motives.
We may build monuments to ourselves as well. They can come in the form of expensive clothing, big houses, fancy cars, important jobs. All of these things listed aren’t bad when we keep them in proper perspective. They become monuments when we use them to give us identity and self-worth, because they take the place of God in our life.
Today, what monuments or towers are you building? Where are you looking to gain an identity?
Dan Gould 