It took me several days to figure out what to write about this story. This portion of Scripture did not inspire me. In fact, it angered me. Why would our God prevent a major human accomplishment? What about building a tower to the heavens threatened Him? He had wanted humanity to succeed and now that our species was accomplishing something truly amazing he wanted to stop it? Frankly, it made no sense to me.
I began asking coworkers and family members what they thought of the story. Some said, "A story is just a story." Others claimed that "Our God is a jealous God." Some of my fellow parishioners told me it was simply an allegory which explained how the different languages were created. None of those explanations resonated with me. I read The Tower of Babel again and again. I highlighted and underlined the phrases that I thought would lead me towards the moral. I wrote questions in the margins. I listened to sermons, surfed the internet, and still found nothing to write about. At least nothing that inspired me or made me feel closer to God.
The answer came a few nights later when I was working late at the office. My friend Mike and I were both on our computers in the conference room. I don't remember the exact reason why, but during our conversation, Mike quoted one of his favorite preachers. Once I realized he was a Bible reader, I began asking him a ton of questions. The funny thing is, none of my questions were about The Tower of Babel. However, I did tell him I was having trouble interpreting Scripture. "I have no background in theology," I said. "I feel like I need to find a great preacher or a rabbi who can school me in the lessons behind The Old Testament."
"Do you pray before you read the Bible?" he asked.
I had never thought of that before. Reading the Bible itself seemed like an act of prayer already. "No," I responded. Mike then explained that the best preachers and rabbis would have me pray beforehand and then listen with my heart as I read the words. Mike's preacher is currently having the congregation read Proverbs 23 everyday for the next few weeks. He told me that surprisingly, every time he reads over that passage, he has a new revelation and feels closer to God.
The following day I read the story again, but this time I followed Mike's advice and said a prayer first. Though I did not yet feel ready to start writing, I noticed a key phrase that I had underlined a few days earlier, but the words suddenly revealed themselves to me in a completely different light.
"Come let us build a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth."
~Genesis 11: 6
I decided to meditate on that phrase for another day or two. Finally, today, Sunday, I found the courage to write down what I feel is the meaning behind this story. I lit a candle, prayed to God, and began to type.
I've realized that perhaps the reason why I struggle to understand this chapter of Genesis, is that I have found myself personally making the same mistakes as God's people in the story. Humanity did not strive to build the tower to glorify God. The tower made no positive impact on the world. To build it would not have been a great accomplishment, for the tower itself has no point. Once built, it would have just been a symbol for "look what I can do." Even today, when we spend money and resources on creating something new for our cities, it generally has a positive purpose. The skyscrapers we build are corporate offices for the companies which help run our economy, our municipal buildings are centers for civil servants such as policeman and fireman. We build schools, prisons, libraries and memorials. Even the statue of liberty, a symbol of America's greatness was created as a thank you gift from the French government. Humanity pooling all of its resources together to create what is essentially nothing more than a tall empty building, is a great metaphor for how we frame our goals and accomplishments in life.
For example, fame and material wealth are common goals and dreams in our society, yet they are only accomplishments if they make the world a better place. When fame comes out of something beautiful, like a film or other artistic project, that fame is well deserved and if used correctly can have a positive impact on our world. I'm sure that actors who use their notoriety to promote important charities or use fame as a chance to set a good example will lead far more fulfilling lives than someone who uses fame as nothing more than a way to get personal attention. Why are there so many celebrities who turn to drugs or sabotage their own careers? Because they have built that "tower" for themselves, but it is empty and provides no real worth to their life or anyone else's. Just as humanity did in Genesis 11, they are trying to"build a name" for themselves, and nothing more. But there is nothing in a name. A name does not glorify God or his people. It does not create art, humor, expression, or feeling. It is nothing. So when God saw that humanity was creating something immense by working together, but as a purely selfish exercise, he stopped them by creating the different languages. Therefore never again could we succeed in building something great with selfish intentions.
When I reflected on how this was relevant in my own life, I came back to a realization I had little more than a year ago. I left an abusive household at a young age. When I made that decision the expectations of many of the adults in my life was that I would fail, so I set out to prove them wrong. To "build a name" for myself. Though it felt as if I was moving towards something positive, the fact that I was basing all of my goals on a negative and selfish intention actually caused me to tumble into more bad life decisions. God's plans for my life only began revealing themselves to me once I changed my motivation. Instead of doing everything with the intention of, "I will prove everyone wrong and make a name for myself," I am now motivated by the goal of being a positive leader who inspires leadership in others. I know that whenever I live with this intention I am personally fulfilled, and because I am helping the world become a better place, my life is taken care of as well. As my mentor in business always says, "When you help others get what they want, you will get what you want."
Proving others wrong was my "tower." These "towers" we create can never be finished because they will never be enough. If I had continued to live with that old intention, I would have never been truly satisfied in life. My tower, just like The Tower of Babel, would have never been finished. However, when I live with the intention of being a light in the world that inspires others to find the light within themselves, I will always be successful and fulfilled. That is not to say that we should not have goals for our own success. To the contrary, I believe going for our biggest dreams is exactly what God wants from us, but let's examine what is driving those goals. For example, do we want that nice car because we actually like it and it is a reward for our hard work, or because we want to be better than our neighbor? Are we building a tower, or are we building something that glorifies our God and our world, which in turn rewards us with fulfillment?
No comments:
Post a Comment