In His ImageНамуна

Day 38: God Disperses the Proud

Discover: In verse 5, the Lord descends to see the city of Shinar and the tower the people built. They make significant progress in their work and appear to gain more momentum. In response, the Lord confuses their languages, making them unable to communicate with one another. As a result, the once unified workforce abandons their project in confusion and disperses across the face of the earth. The tower becomes known as “Babel” because it is where God confuses the language of all the people of the earth. Then, the diverse groups of people become scattered all over the world.

Learn: These verses exemplify the concept of “pride coming before the fall,” as is written in Proverbs 16:18. The people of Shinar work together to do something that exalts themselves, with no reverence or consideration towards God. If anything, this is a display of their self-sufficiency and an act of defiance. This gets the attention of God as He does not just put their pride to rest but scatters them across the globe, highlighting their need for His providence. Their fear of being scattered in verse four becomes a reality, and they can no longer rely on their desire for prestige, power, and self-sufficiency.

Apply: Sometimes, we begin to think of ourselves as self-sufficient. When things are going well, it is easy to give ourselves credit. We do not need to rely on God because we handle things just fine on our own. Everyone experiences moments of pride when these thoughts get the best of us, but what is important is that we recognize our prideful tendencies. God takes action against the people of Shinar because they are set in their prideful ways. When we catch ourselves embracing our pride, we should refocus on God as our source of strength and direction of praise. Have you had moments in life where you tried to rely too heavily on yourself? How can awareness of these moments help you to refocus on the Lord and recognize that He deserves all the glory? What are some ways you could cultivate humility in your daily life?