Plans in Ruin

I was reading in Genesis 11 this morning, this passage

1Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3And they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth." 5And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6And the LORD said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech." 8So the LORD dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

I found it interesting, how so often throughout scripture we read of men making plans, and then God having other plans, he changes things to best suit his purposes.

In this passage, all the peoples of earth spoke one language. These people set out to build a city, and a tower, so that they would not be dispersed all over the world.

"Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth."

They wanted to make a name for themselves. They wanted to be important, and they wanted to stay put.

God saw this and said

"Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech."

He did not want the people to make a name for themselves. He did not want them to do the "impossible". He did not want them to stay all in one place. SO... God said "Let us do down and confuse their language". and that's what happened. The peoples started to speak different languages and dispersed all over the world.

I also find it neat to read of the "let us". See the plurality in God? It's one of the hardest things to even try to wrap one's head around. That God is ONE God, and yet a plurality. Better minds than me have tried to explain this well, so I'll let you check them out, here's one that might help, and here also. But God is Father, God is Son, and God is Holy Spirit. And God is God, all wrapped up in one package.