Make a Name

 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.”

— Genesis 11:1-4

Gracious Lord Jesus, my friend and my King,

Genesis 8:17 instructs Noah and his family to multiply on the earth. This required them to spread out. But by Genesis 11, people found a place where they decided to stop moving and they chose to settle there. Their goals were to use new technology (bricks instead of stone) to build a tower; to build a tower as a means of reaching heaven on their own merits; to make a name for themselves rather than the name God had given them—a people of His creation, made in His image; and finally, they were rejecting God’s command to scatter and instead they were choosing self-rule. Interestingly, the tower they were building with bricks and mortar was designed to be waterproof. They did not trust God’s promise to never flood the earth again. They were not trusting in God’s protection and they were choosing self-protection.

Today, we see all the same elements combining at breakneck speed. Humanity is able to communicate with one language and a common speech—not English, but ones and zeroes. Today, we are using new technology to build cities that settle people in one tightly controlled place, rather than allowing us to spread and scatter. We are using new technology to build not a tower to reach God but to replace God—an artificial superintelligence that is of our own making. And humanity—especially those at the center of artificial intelligence—have set to make a name for themselves.

Lord Jesus, it was quite possibly You who came to earth (vs. 5) to see what humanity was doing. You knew that the potential of fallen man was terrible and powerful, so You divided them linguistically and geographically to scatter them and replenish the earth. Today, I wonder how You will respond to humanity’s repetition of the same self-rule and desire to make their own name for themselves. Will You come down?

— In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen!

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