Genesis 11:6-8 -- On Heaven and Influence

"And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.
So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city."
Genesis 11:6-8


The story of the Tower of Babel is interesting because it shows us the down side of things that we often see as ideals. These people were united in many ways, but they were unfortunately united in doing something that was contrary to God's will. In our society we sometimes believe that something is right if a lot of people are in favor of it, and maybe that's where all of these people were coming from as well... joining together to do something impressive--just not what the Lord had asked, or in the way that he required, thinking they could get to heaven in their own way.

This reminds me of the allegory of the tame and wild olive trees in Jacob 5. In that story, all the fruit becomes bad, and many branches and trees need to be burned because they don't have the capability of bringing forth the good fruit anymore, but some of it is redeemable, and the Lord of the Vineyard works with the trees and eventually coaxes the good fruit from the strong roots again. Perhaps by scattering the people here the Lord was able to preserve something good on a smaller scale, because there was more opportunity for good people to make a difference in small groups than there was for them to change things as a minority voice in the large group.

Today, let's first of all remember that the definition of good is God's will, and when we start thinking that God should change his mind about something that there is a change needed on *our* side, not his. We can't get to heaven doing things our own way... the only way is his way. And let's also remember that sometimes the reason we are isolated from a larger group is so that we can make a bigger difference. Let's do good wherever we are, helping to change the world for the better by whatever influence we have on the people around us, big or small.