Now the whole world had one language and a common speech. As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. 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.”

Devotion based on Genesis 11:1-4

The people seeking to build this tower had a problem. They knew life was short. Their time would quickly end, and then they would be gone. But they also felt that there was more. They longed for something eternal.

Their solution was to build a tower reaching to the heavens. Using recent technological advancements, they could climb higher than anyone ever had before them. They would make a name for themselves so that even when they died, their tower would stand as a monument to their great accomplishments.

They thought this was the solution to their problem. They had a God-shaped hole in their hearts, and they tried to fill it with bricks and tar. They knew there was a gap between sinful, mortal human beings and the perfect, eternal God. They tried to bridge that gap with the tower they thought could put them on the same level as God.

We are all born with this God-shaped hole in our hearts. We are all born with the sinful nature that tries to fill that hole with anything but God. Money, power, control, pleasure, and self-righteousness are just a few things we use to bridge the gap between us and God, but they all fall short.

The only thing that could bridge the gap between us and God is the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus climbed a tree and hung between heaven and earth to fill the God-shaped hole in our hearts with faith and trust in him as our Savior.

The people building the Tower of Babel; we don’t know their names. But God has given us the name by which we are saved. Jesus is the only one who can give us eternity.

Prayer:

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All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. ™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.