Understanding God: He Does Not Condone Nonsense
And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. – Genesis 11:4-8
As we continue exploring God’s personality, another lesson we can learn from Him is that He does not condone nonsense, particularly to the extent that such conflicts with His will and plan.
God had just completed a total overhaul of Project Earth with the flood, which required that He wipe out the defective creatures He then had in hand after the fall in the garden and the cursed earth they had to operate in afterwards. Even though the former generations were gone, God did not lose sight of His mandate for humanity to subdue and fill the earth. This was part of His initial communication to Adam (Genesis 1:28). It was also one of the first things He told Noah when He started afresh (Genesis 9:1).
Meanwhile, here comes humankind again. After multiplying enough, they started having a different idea of their own. Rather than fulfilling the mandate of God, handed to their forbears, to proliferate across the earth, they wanted to stay in one place instead. Hear them: ‘And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth”’ (Genesis 11:4).
They did not want to leave their comfort zone. They wanted to stay in the same place. And rather than spread out, as God wanted, they were only thinking of building high-rise structures that would rise as high they could get to accommodate their increasing number of people. They were not contemplating branching out to other parts of the earth where they would have to break grounds and level the highs in order to build new structures. God was not happy about that.
‘So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city’ (Genesis 11:8). God came down and mobilized His hosts to confuse their communication, and that put an end to the project for sure. God is still very much in the business of scattering and scuttling structures today, particularly schemes and affairs that do not align with His will. He does not condone nonsense and does not suffer fools gladly.
Selah!
Also read:
- Men in the Bible: the First Mighty Man
- The Benefits of Wisdom: Unusual Honor
- The Profile of Jesus
- Moments of Grace… Moments of Love and Healing (2)
- Just Tell Me One Thing
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