Genesis 11: The Origin of Languages

¹ Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. ² As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.

³ They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. ⁴ Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” -Genesis 11:1-4

Pride is the perennial human problem. The serpent displayed it. Adam and Eve dealt with it. Cain struggled with it. After the Flood, you would think the situation would change. It didn’t. One of the first goals in the generations after Noah was to build a tower to heaven. Why? To make a name for themselves.

God uses this story to reveal the origin of languages, but another unsettling issue is that we find humanity failing in the area of pride repeatedly. Universal sin includes universal pride. We cannot escape the fact that we each desire to stand out and be someone special.

Of course, the goal is to find our contentment in God and His greatness. To do so is a daily challenge, one we are called to pursue through Jesus as Christians.

Today, let us not let pride win the battle; let’s fight the temptation to put self first. Let us look to our Savior first. He is the answer to our condition. He is the One who makes our lives of eternal significance.

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Dillon Burroughs is the author and coauthor of numerous books and is handwriting a copy of all 31,173 verses of the Bible at HolyWritProject.com. Find out more about Dillon at Facebook.com/readdB or readdB.com.