Genesis 11:1-9

I am a bit of a lone wolf. This is partly my personality, and partly because I have autism. I have trouble working with a team and never really feel part of a group. Most people are not like this. From what I’ve seen and read, most people like the feeling of belonging. In the military they call it camaraderie. In church it is called fellowship. These groups have a common cause and often share a common language. The language of an infantry company is different from the language of the rotary club. What all successful groups have in common is their sense of unity.

I believe God must have created us with a desire for community. Just as we have an innate need to know God we also have an innate need to have friends and family. We are born with a need to belong to something greater than ourselves. As it is said, birds of a feather flock together. This is normal and it is natural.

The people gathered on the plains of Shinar started as such a group. They had a common cause and a common language. The problem was not found in their grouping together, but rather in the sinfulness of their new cause. They decided to ignore God’s will, and make a name for themselves. They wanted to lift themselves up. They wanted to replace God with themselves. Groups such as this have come together down through history. They had been known by many names. They have been called Nazis, Communist, The Huns, and the KKK to name only a few. Groups such as this are like a pack of hyenas; they prey upon the weak and the powerless. God went down to the people of Babel. He confused their speech, and he broke up the pack and scattered it.

The people of the world will see God in us the more time we spend together. However they will never see God us if we’re running with a pack of hyenas.