A Flood of Folly

 

By Mary Ann Wray

“Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then 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, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” Genesis 11: 1-4

In Genesis 11 we can see that planet earth had recovered from the world sweeping “Great Flood.” In the aftermath, humanity had been repopulated through the bloodline of Noah and his sons. Things were getting back to “normal” so to speak. All was well, so it appeared. Even though the disobedient, wicked and rebellious ones were destroyed by the flood, God saw that the hearts of man remained unchanged. Not even a flood could remove the inclination man had to disobey Him and worship self over God. Their love and loyalty had been put to the test once again. What resulted wasn’t a destroying flood but something else that would foil their plans. It was their own folly that would destroy their self-efforts. What God promised would not happen again didn’t. He never goes back on His Word. However, He would share His glory with no one as this settlement of people would soon find out! He did something else to punish them for their idolatry.

The mentality of man and the imaginations of their heart diminished the God of all flesh to a mere notion. They worshipped self not Yahweh. They had become idolatrous. He no longer was their Creator and benefactor. In their minds and hearts He had become a distant figure head. The fear of the Lord had left them. The very One who had the power to give life and take it away had become detached from their minds. After the flood, there was still only one language, one culture, one set of mores. There were those who migrated and settled into a central location in the land of Shinar. Evidently, they became dissatisfied in the place where they settled. They wanted more, but in the wrong sense. They forgot the lesson of the Great Flood and replaced it will a flood of folly in their way of thinking.

They decided to build and erect a monumental tower to reach the Heavens and make themselves famous in all the earth. They used the unity mankind experienced after the cleansing flood, to serve themselves, not their creator. Since they feared being dispersed over the face of the earth, they feared losing their identity too. Instead of identifying themselves as sons and daughters of God through Noah with the rest of humanity, they deemed it necessary to create their own identity and proclaim themselves as the “Great Ones.”

We know what happened next. Yahweh wasn’t having it…

“And the Lord 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. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore, its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.” Genesis 11: 6-9

That which they feared, is exactly what happened to them. Their dissatisfaction and discontentment became their arch enemy. Not only did the Lord confuse their language, He dispersed them throughout all the earth. Wherever, they would wind up, they would have to learn to communicate creatively using the confused language God gave them. Their plans were wrecked. Now they would have to focus their attention on learning to connect with one another in order to be understood and live in a state of order again. Building something for their own glory was no longer a motivation for their existence.  They must have deeply regretted it at this point. However, regret could never remove the consequences of their vanity. No doubt this new feat of learning how to interface with one another was more difficult than building a tower could ever be. One can only image what life was like after they were disseminated forcefully from their cozy kingdom.

The Bible gives us no clues as to what happened to these tower builders after Babel, other than give us the genealogies of Noah’s sons in Genesis 10 and 11. That tells us that mankind continued to marry and produce offspring. After Babel, Genesis 11 gives us a more detailed genealogy of Shem from where Abraham and the Israelites would originate.

The thing about this passage that really stood out to me most was “let us make a name for ourselves.” I can identify with this. There were times in my life where I wanted to feel important and do better than others. I strove to become “successful”. At times I seemed to be getting ahead so to speak, but yet, deep inside there was turmoil, doubts, confusion and fear. I began to realize like the folks of the Babel story, that most of what I was doing was about me, not about Jesus. Their thought process and mine at one time, was a proclamation of vanity. The “Shinars” wanted to “shine”, stand out, and be lifted up above everyone else. This same type of mentality eventually landed me at what I call “Ground Zero.” Everything I believed in, worked for and depended upon was stripped from me. My efforts and accomplishments were either confused or non-existent in anyone’s mind but mine. I was left alone with nothing but Jesus. But it was here that I found a place of real peace and victory. I truly found out that Jesus is more than enough! Jesus is preeminent above everything and everyone else! (Colossians 1: 15-23). I never would have learned this unless the Lord had confused my past efforts to be somebody or do something for His Kingdom.

I don’t think I stand alone in this struggle. Honestly, it seems that there is something in most if not all of us, that desires to outshine and stand out among others in one way or another. We can be very clever and creative in doing so too. This is the very thing John the Beloved pointed out in 3 John 1: 9-14 and the Apostle Paul admitted in his own struggle against sin in his humanity (Romans 7: 21-25).

This real-life struggle of wanting to “stand out” reminds me of what Lucifer said in Isaiah 14: 13 & 14…

“You said in your heart,
I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”

Pride was Satan’s downfall. Jesus said He saw Satan fall like lightning from Heaven. That’s how quickly he was “dethroned.” Pride was Eve’s downfall. She deceptively believed she could partake of something God forbade without suffering any consequences. Pride was Adam’s downfall too. Clearly, he knew better than eat the fruit Eve gave him, since God gave Adam the direct command. God told Adam not to eat of this fruit before Eve was even created (Genesis 2: 16 & 17) but in that consequential moment, Adam chose Eve over God. Eve was deceived, the Bible says, but Adam sinned (1 Timothy 2: 14). Pride always chooses self over God. Pride is the root of all sin found in all of us. Prides’ consequences are not as immediate as Satan’s. The Lord is slow to anger and quick to forgive, especially now that we are under the New Covenant of grace. But we can’t be fooled into believing that sin has NO consequences in this life any more than grace gives us permission to sin over and over again with no repentance in our hearts. Some consequences are much harsher than others. Nevertheless, sin begets death. It always has and it always will while we live on this earth.

The second part of the Shinar’s proclamation that ended unwell for them was “lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” This mentality reflected fear. I believe a fear of loss. In their minds, they must have believed unless they built a heaven reaching tower as a landmark for themselves, they might lose their fame and popularity. Therefore, without a towering edifice, their name and importance would be diminished. This structure would serve as a shrine to self not really a stairway to Heaven as they proclaimed. Their beaming altar of self-sacrifice for their worthy cause was really what they wanted to erect and be known for.

We see so much of this same thing today. We see it in Hollywood, Politics, Religion, Media and Education. Man seeks to elevate himself and his knowledge above everyone else and the Lord Jesus Christ. What’s even scarier is when we see it exhibited in Spiritual Leadership in the Church. Those who talk more about their personal accomplishments and exploits for God than they do Jesus Christ’s and the Word of God are exemplifying the Shinar mentality. If we are honest with ourselves, we all have a tendency to do it. Some just seem to get away with more because of the position and ironically the notoriety they hold. At the end of the day, every knee will bow and tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord of ALL! It’s better to be humble and acknowledge that all power, rule, dominion and authority is Christ’s now than wait until later. Trusting in our own efforts to be somebody will ultimately land us in a place of complete leveling. We’ll only find out that the “towers” we erected to ourselves or in our own name will crumble in His presence.

“Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.” 1 Corinthians 3:12-15