Making a Name
Making a Name: an original Genesis 11:4-9 KJV devotional with biblical context and practical application.
“And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 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 11:4-9 KJV
A shared project can look impressive while carrying a proud purpose. The builders at Babel were organized and determined. Their stated goal included making a name for themselves and resisting the scattering they feared. Their ability to work together did not make their ambition obedient to God.
Read the passage carefully
The LORD's response exposes the limits of human self-exaltation. The people who wanted a monument to their strength could not preserve even their ability to understand one another. This does not mean that cities, building projects, or cooperation are wrong. The passage judges a particular purpose. People were using their common strength to secure themselves on their own terms. They wanted the work to serve their reputation and their resistance to God's direction.
I need to examine success at the level of purpose. A growing ministry, a completed degree, or a respected position can be used to serve others. The same accomplishment can become a tower built around my own name. The difference appears in the way I receive correction, share credit, and respond when someone else is honored. Pride can work hard and still be moving in the wrong direction.
Carry this truth into the day
Do the work well, but give its purpose honest attention. Welcome the person who helps you see a blind spot. Acknowledge the labor that made your achievement possible. Be willing to serve in a useful place that does little for your reputation. The Lord can scatter what pride calls secure, and He can use quiet faithfulness that the world scarcely notices. A life spent making His goodness known has a sounder foundation than a monument intended to keep our own name from being forgotten.
Why the setting matters
The people at Babel seek a city and tower to secure a name and prevent their scattering. God confounds their language and scatters them upon the earth.
Continue in the Word
Read further: Genesis 11 in the King James Bible.