Unity And Not Rebellion.

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.” – Gen. 11:4 NIV

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It should definitely not come as a surprise to any Bible student that the whole world in the early days of creation will be speaking one language. This is because they all are descendants of Adam and Eve. And even after the destruction of the earth with the flood, the first set of people to occupy what became the new earth were all members of the same family. So when Bible notes that the whole world was speaking the same language, it was definitely expected – Gen. 11:1.

It was in the unity that this single language brought that all the occupants of the earth were operating in and due to the adventurous nature of man, they decided amongst themselves to build houses from bricks rather than using ordinary stones whilst they used tar as the cement to hold the bricks together. This was really impressive as they began to explore their discovery potentials and the Almighty God seemed not to be perturbed in any way. The knowledge of making burnt bricks was really positive and seemed to receive the commendation of the Almighty God just as their intention to build houses with such bricks seemed to go down well with Him also.

The problem arose, as stated in the foundation scripture for today’s devotional, when;
1. They decided, not just to build themselves a city, but one with a tower that will get to heaven.
2. They will make a name for themselves.
3. They will avoid been scattered all over the earth.

Their unity at this point was beginning to go against the reason for their creation in the first place. All the three points listed as the reason for wanting to create the city and it’s tower were completely against the plan and reasoning of the Almighty God when He decided to create the heaven and earth.

Their intention for the building of the tower was to be able to reach the heavens but the Psalmist reveals the intention of the Almighty God in that regards when he informs that the high heavens belong to the Lord and He has allocated the earth to human beings – Psa. 115:16. That being the case, it is already a case of inordinate ambition, trespass and complete disregard for the intention of their creator. That was never going to be allowed by men, talk more about the Almighty God. It was never going to fly. Simple! Secondly, the motive for their ambition was to make a name for themselves. Wow! That was never going to be permitted by the Almighty God. He made it clear on several occasions in the scriptures that his jealous nature will make it completely impossible for Him to share the glory that results from anything or any achievement by any of His creations – Exo. 20:5; Isa. 42:8. He desires and must get all glory and any activity that will not glorify Him is doomed for failure as He will personally ensure that it suffers that fate. Thirdly is the fact that the intention of the Almighty God is for man to occupy the entire surface of the earth and superintend over it – Gen. 1:28. Any act that attempts to oppose spread and growth is definitely antagonistic to the very nature of God. He is an increasing God and stagnancy or diminishing is definitely not in Him. The result of these ungodly intention was the Lord deciding to scatter them so as to prevent such plans from becoming unstoppable in future due to the advantage that the unity resulting from the use of a single language, conferred on them. He applied the same treatment in the desire if the Apostles to remain in Jerusalem in unity, long after they had received the Holy Spirit, allowing for them to be persecuted, an action that eventually scattered them all to Judea, Samaria and the rest of the world – Acts 1:8; 8:1.

Many human groups are groaning today under the negative fallouts that a united people have caused. It has become so bad that most organisations discourage unity to a certain extent amongst staff members. The tool of unity that should actually produce strength has been wrongly used by some to become a tool of rebellion and retrogression in such gathering with Christian groups not excluded. This is basically because the interest of the individual or organization that provided the platform for the unity is no longer sought as some individuals begin to develop interests that satisfy more of their own selfish desires. This can never be positive no matter how much the motive for such counter acts may be. It is simply rebellion because what is being sought for in most cases, with that tool of unity was definitely not part of the what was agreed when the platform was created. Such an individual is better off attempting to re-negotiate the basis of the unity in a very peaceful manner and where this fails, exit the platform in a peaceful manner also rather than seeking to enforce a decision that is against the interest of the one that created the platform. Such an act can only be described in one word, “Rebellion”. Such may get away with it in a manner that seems like blackmailing the one that created the platform and be seen by human beings as a hero of some sorts but Christians must know that the Almighty God frowns at such conducts and views them in the same manner as he sees the act of witchcraft – 1Sam. 15:23.

Avoid such acts as the minimum that will happen to such will be the Almighty God making it impossible for anything to settle in the life of such individuals and stop every act that may lead to progress – Gen. 11:8. He will personally ensure confusion in all that such individuals get involved and there will be no peace that can engender progress. No surprise many lives are in turbulence today after being involved in actions that they feel was just a case of fighting for their rights. It should be made clear that it is the Almighty God that gives rights and He it is that can enforce it. You are better off stepping away from unacceptable situations than leading a unified platform in an act that looks like rebellion. That way you will save yourself from having to directly fight nature and avoid the confusion that will follow such acts. It may be that you have already found yourself in such out of ignorance which has brought so much confusion and turbulence into your life and things are simply not settled despite all physical and spiritual efforts to settle them, you may need to seek for forgiveness, possibly from the human victim of your rebellious acts but definitely from the Almighty God. It may be possible for him to restore and help settle the turbulence in your life so that peace can return. May God guide us all to use the tool of unity positively rather than to our disadvantage in Jesus name. Amen.