God scatters the people over the face of the whole earth, and they stop building the city. The very thing they built to prevent — scattering — is exactly what happens. The resistance to God's mandate results in the mandate being fulfilled involuntarily. The city stops mid-construction; the tower presumably stands incomplete. What human beings try to hold together apart from God cannot be sustained; what they try to prevent by their own power, God accomplishes by his. Proverbs 19:21 states that many are the plans in a person's heart, but the LORD's purpose prevails. Isaiah 46:10 declares that God's purpose will stand and he will do all that he pleases. The scattering is not failure of the human project — it is success of the divine plan. The application: where in your life have you worked hard to hold something together that God seems intent on scattering? The question is not always why God is opposing your plan but whether your plan is aligned with his mandate.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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