Genesis chapter 11

Here, fairly soon after a catastrophic flood that destroyed everyone except Noah and his family, men have turned away from God. Noah walked with God, he was considered righteous and presumably taught his children about God so they would walk in his footsteps. Yet here we are, several generations later, and men decide to build a great tower to make a name for themselves, to show how important they are, how successful, how wealthy. It is not a case of building a monument to God, to thank him for all that He has done. No, it is a tower to impress people with the strength and might of the men who designed and built it, to show off their abilities and all they can do.

So God comes down to take a look. He doesn't just look from heaven and see what is going on, He comes down and takes a closer look, to see right into each man's heart, to examine their motives, their reasons. He sees that the men are building this tower to impress others with their achievements and takes action accordingly by giving each one a different language, because if men can't understand one another, how can they work together to build a tower?

In the same way, we each build towers, monuments, in our own lives. We may wear designer clothes, have a big house in its own grounds, the latest and most expensive car, a high powered city job or run a very successful business, be a world famous artist or writer, but all that we have comes from God. He is the one who gave us the ability to write, to paint, to be good with numbers, be a whizz on the stock market, the skills to be an engineer, businessman/woman, and it is to Him the thanks are due. Yes, we may well have done the work, studied hard and passed the exams, gained the qualifications, married into money, scrimped and saved over the years and now are sitting back enjoying the money in the bank, but God is the one we should be thanking.

So when I sit back and congratulate myself on something that I think I have done well, I need to remember that God is the one who gave me the gifts, God is the one who gave me the ideas, the skills, and without him, I have nothing.