The scattering

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. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth. – Genesis 11.6-9

Sometimes when we don’t do what God wants He, shall we say, helps us along.

The people here did not want to scatter as they were told. They would rather just stay together and make their own name for themselves. So they decided to just set up camp in Babel. Well, it wasn’t Babel yet, but that’s part of the story.

God saw what they didn’t do. God also knew the great evil that man was capable of. So God, singular by the way, said let us, plural, go down and mix things up a bit. (I like the little hint of the Trinity here.) Let us go down and give them a whole bunch of languages to confuse them and encourage them to separate.

But God did just that. A guy asked for a hammer and got handed a saw. Another guy asked for a nail and got punched in the face for insulting him. A fella said, ‘let’s have a cuppa tea’ and another one looked aghast. They could not understand each other. Eventually those who could understand each other gathered together and went off on their own.

And eventually the earth was settled. Mankind multiplied. It grew and filled the earth.

So what is the lesson for me?

These folks were not going to obey God. Instead of going and spreading like God said they were just going to stay. They had a free will, and God was not going to force them to go.

But that doesn’t mean He would not encourage them to go. God changed their circumstances so that they were better off doing what He wanted than what they wanted.

Life was still tough for them when they moved. Settling the world must have been terribly tough. But it was better than butting their heads against the wall of God’s will.

The same thing is true for us. We may face human opposition – but it is much easier on us in the long run than standing toe to toe with God in our stubbornness. .

It is so much better to just obey Him.